Sub Rosa: Nickelback Saga
by kayura sanada
Summary: 6th. Things are winding down, but life's certainly not easy, and several problems still persist. One things for sure - a happy ending won't be easy to grasp. 1x2, 3x4.
1. Detangler

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing? Sure, it's mine. And also you're stupid.

* * *

Sub Rosa

Chapter One

Detangler

* * *

So gee, could anyone guess that I would pass Une's little entrance exam? It was ridiculously easy, especially since I wasn't injured from our last disaster. Of course, I relegated myself purely to deskwork and got the dubious honor of training the new recruits. Field work would probably not be good for an ex-merc with a shitload of enemies. Nope.

It seemed like no time at all before Heero was able to move in short spurts without his wheelchair, but at the same time, the two weeks I had suffered through before he got to that stage had lasted forever. I must have been an absolute terror for Heero those months I'd been recovering. I pitied him for it.

Not much else changed. Heero ordered me to leave off selling Wing, saying he wanted to be there, and what the hell? Why not. I went one afternoon and cleaned my baby up, getting up all the dried blood. The leg had been removed from the cockpit, thankfully, but the blood had caked the floor and wall and... well, it had taken so damn long that Heero had fucking ambushed me on my way into the house, and even stuck in a wheelchair that guy in pissed off mode could be scary.

I smiled at the thought as I opened the door and let myself in after work. Heero was on the sofa reading a book, easily accessible to the eyes. It had been an interesting thing to learn – I had found that the subconscious knowledge that Heero was hurt had messed with my head a bit, and I'd flipped out the first time I'd seen the wheelchair sitting unattended during one of Heero's own personal 'am-I-ready-yet?' tests.

"Welcome back," he said, his smile easy now that he had a bit more physical freedom.

"Thanks." I kicked off my shoes and went straight over to him. Heero obligingly lifted his lips for my kiss. "How are you?"

"Bored," he responded quickly, and I grinned.

"I understand your pain, Heero, but I'm giving you the same damn answer you always gave me."

He huffed at that. "How was work?"

"Boring," I supplied. "Or dull, depending on your viewpoint." I plopped down beside him and grabbed his book from his hands, careful to keep his page open, and read the back. "Heero, can't you read anything interesting? A mystery novel, or maybe some suspense? What's this 'Theory of War' crap?"

"It's interesting to me," he stated. It was a debate we'd gotten into before these past few weeks.

I handed it back to him and wiped my palm on my pants as if I'd been contaminated by the book somehow. "And more power to you on that one, Hee-chan."

"Don't call me that."

"Hee-chan. Don't move your arm so fast, Heero." I dodged his attack and glared at him. "Your fucking collarbone was broken, asshole. Don't mess yourself up again or I'll be pissed."

"Then don't irritate me."

The man had a comeback for everything.

"Une says Zechs will be finishing up his undercover work in a couple of days," I told him, knowing that would get the bastard's attention. "She says we can finally talk to him about the sent file."

"I want to be there."

Gee, hadn't expected that one. Not. "Not gonna happen," I said cheerfully. "And even better news: Quatre reports that both he and Trowa have yet to be bothered by any weird people with ridiculous abilities. I know Wufei and you want to search for them somehow, Heero, but even if I agreed with you completely I can't see how we could. It's beyond our abilities, incredible as they may be, to find a specific person who, as far as we know, could be anyone. It doesn't even make sense."

"I don't like the idea of waiting to be attacked again."

I ignored the poignant look he cast my way, the one that said, 'for _you_ to be attacked again.' Cheeky ass. "And what else have we been freaking out about? Hm. My ship's clean and waiting for your sorry ass to let me just sell the damn thing-" I didn't think about the process of that or of how much it would hurt "-and those are our big, disastrous crises – oh! Quatre also said he wanted to hop over, and Wufei, when he heard, said he'd be stopping by soon, too, though he can't tonight because Sally Po has him taking naps in the afternoons to rest his legs, since the idiot decided to return to work early." I smirked at the thought of Wufei taking cat naps.

Heero sighed and put his book aside, not even bothering tonight to continue reading. "So are you going to lecture me about being careful with myself again?"

"Hey, man." I lightly pushed his shoulder. "It's payback for all the damn lectures you and the others always gave _me_. And you haven't given me a reason to tonight. _Yet_."

Heero snorted.

I was quiet for a while, fully comfortable with simply sitting there, Heero beside me. I thought back on the day when I went nuts over an empty wheelchair and frowned. "You know..." I started, but then sent Heero an uneasy glance.

He caught it, of course, and tilted his head. "What?"

I took a deep breath and just plunged in. "We do have a couple... personal crises... that haven't been fully, uh, panned out."

Heero was silent, considering this. "You mean the Caribol events."

What the hell? He'd titled the episode? Like it was a movie? "Yeah. Like the Caribol events. And Trowa's opinion of me – has that changed, by the way? I don't even know. And..." And then I hesitated again.

Heero's "what?" was a bit more hesitant this time.

"Well," I said cautiously, "I have no idea what... I mean, when I tried... when I chugged down the death drink, I... wrote a couple things."

Heero's eyes had done an interesting little emotion dance at my attempt at a euphemism, but when I touched on my poems, they kind of... froze. "Yes. You did."

It was weird, how I'd begun to wonder about those damn poems and Heero's... reaction wasn't the right word, but it seemed to sum it up. I found the idea of him disliking the poems rather abhorrent. What if he said I had no skill? That would be akin to him shooting a bullet through my lungs. But I also wanted to know what he thought about the... the subjects of the pieces. Most specifically the ones I'd written shortly before attempting to off myself.

I needed to work on my euphemisms.

"So – I mean, I don't want to talk about it if you don't want to," I said quickly, although I _did_ still want to talk about it, dammit, "and you're still injured, so big giant heart-to-hearts that require any kind of crying might not be the greatest idea..." Shit, I was starting to talk _myself_ out of it. "So..."

But Heero's eyes pierced me head-on. "No. You're right; we _do_ need to discuss this."

Uh-oh. And why did a sudden Bad Feeling get lodged in my chest? I shoved the feeling away; I was done being the coward who ran from myself. "Yeah. Okay." Still, my palms were starting to sweat. Only a little.

"Where..." And here even Heero hesitated, "where do you want to start?"

It surprised me enough that I laughed. "Oh, I don't know. I brought up the subject of torturing ourselves, so you can pick the device. How's that?"

Heero grimaced. "Fine. Caribol."

Oh, ouch. Below the belt. My laughter died pretty much immediately. "All right."

Heero carefully rearranged himself until he was facing me on the couch. I mirrored him. Getting comfortable; that was a bad sign. "Duo, I've already apologized for my actions, but I know it needs to be said again."

I rolled my shoulders. Was it just me, or was it damn awkward to randomly start this sort of conversation? But Heero's eyes looked determined and hell if I was letting this wait. "We both have to apologize. You for tricking me, and me for... for my reaction. Heero, there's something I want to say first, something I think you and the others all need to hear."

Heero's eyes got all guarded again.

"Look, about what I said when we were leaving the hospital? About me changing?"

Heero nodded. "I remember."

"Good. It's true; I found that I've just been floating around blaming the fact that I don't know myself on all my problems, and I don't want to do that anymore. I don't want to focus on the past anymore. I... it includes what happened back... during the Caribol incident. I don't want to constantly look at you and remember..." I closed my eyes at the memory and snarled. "I want to see you as you are now – well, as you will be. Healthy." When I opened my eyes again, Heero's face was difficult for me to read. I couldn't tell if he was angry, upset, or... just thinking really hard. "I think I might have already said that, but..."

"You think we can forget?" he asked skeptically.

"No! I didn't mean that at all!" I shook my head vehemently. "I meant that you're more than that one moment. I've... been thinking about this. A lot." It came with the territory, after all, of trying to change oneself. Suddenly I'd been finding myself thinking a lot about... several things. "I want to remember, more than the memory of... of what I did, how you and I spoke in the hospital afterwards. Seeing you alive enough to punch me." I smiled a bit. "And talking to you, how you were healthy enough to do something as stupid as push the extra fucking bed in front of the door."

Heero snorted. "You want to remember _that_?"

"Yeah, actually." I grinned at him; good, he wasn't pissed. "And I think you'd rather remember me struggling with that damn door than think about... what I'd looked like after..." I let my voice fade completely at the pained look that echoed across Heero's face. "Yeah. Thought so."

"Don't forget, but forgive?" he asked finally, breaking a sharp silence.

"If you want to be clichéd and boring, then yeah, that'll work."

Heero snorted again.

"So, the whole Caribol Events," I said, putting little quotation marks around the title with my hands, "isn't something I want to spend apologizing for over and over. You did what you thought was best, and... and, I guess, so did I."

Those eyes of Heero's were difficult to read again. "Duo," Heero said carefully, and I had the feeling something bad was coming, "you really have changed."

I felt my gut clench. "What?"

"I've seen it, bit by bit. You threw yourself into the job at Preventors without a backwards glance, but that's not what I mean." He leaned forward, careful of his wound since I was too shocked to remember to reprimand him, and cupped my face in his hands. "You truly have become stronger." And those eyes were impossible to read again, sifting, it seemed, through several emotions. I was simply on shock overload. "I've seen a gradual change in your posture, straight and sure again. That old Maxwell cockiness." His lips flickered into a grin, but other emotions pushed it back down again.

"Heero?" My stomach was fucking quivering, not knowing if what Heero'd said – that he'd love me as long as I was me – I couldn't tell for certain whether that was true anymore or not. And it scared me. Did he _want_ me to go back to that old me, who hated and second-guessed himself? But _I_ didn't want to be that man anymore. I wanted... I wanted more stable footing. I wanted...

"I just wish..." And when Heero sighed, the fear turned into outright panic. "I just wish you weren't going through it all alone. Again."

...What?

His hands slid away from me, but I caught them in my own. "Wait. Heero, what...? What do you mean? Is this... some sort of bad thing?"

Heero just sighed, and that clenching feeling wouldn't go away. "Sort of, Duo, yes."

I felt my heart literally stutter. I'd known it was a big risk, changing myself so much. Becoming someone _stronger_. I just hadn't imagined that it would be... a bad thing. "Heero," I said shakily, "if you're not breaking up with me, now would be a good time to admit it."

Heero looked downright startled. "No," he said firmly.

Well. All right then. I clutched my chest and let out a relieved sigh before I quite knew what I was doing. "Okay. So then why...?"

"Duo, I told you from the beginning." Heero covered the hand I'd rested against my heart and stared straight into my eyes. "We – not even just me, Duo, but all of us – we're all here for you. We're here to help. We've struggled to find our own ways, our own selves, outside of the war, without losing anything about ourselves that we respected. We _want_ to help you, Duo. Even Trowa. Don't give me that look."

I tried to not look so skeptical.

"_That's_ what I meant, Duo. I would never want to break up with you. Watching you gain back that old confidence, becoming who you are now, it's as if I'm falling in love you all over again, and more than I had before."

I blinked, trying to process those words coming out of Heero's mouth.

"That's not to say I didn't love you before," Heero rushed, "but... Duo, don't take this wrong. Listen to what I say, all right?"

I nodded. Apparently it was my turn to be wary.

"Duo. Looking at you, interacting with you..." Heero's eyes were bright, and I could see a smile trying to take over his face. He struggled to remain serious. "It's like I'm getting my chance all over again. These past weeks, I've seen the old Duo. The one who'd shot me trying to protect a stranger he just happened across. The type who forced me to interact with other students in dormitories. The one who teased me on the battlefield. The one..." His hand gripped mine tightly, and his head fell to my chest. I hadn't even realized we'd gravitated so close to one another until his head rested warmly against our enjoined hands. "The one I'd shouted to all those years ago, promising to survive."

Fuck. I could feel tears stinging my eyes.

"Heero." I wrapped my free hand around him, ever careful of disturbing his healing clavicle, and nestled my head in his wild hair. "I'm sorry I've worried you all this time."

"You should be," he muttered, and the sarcasm surprised another burst of laughter from me.

I kissed his hair and inhaled. He smelled good. To describe the scent would hinder its unique beauty, but nonetheless my mind supplied me with the ideas of meadows and some undefinable earthy scent. Smells I'd only first gotten to scent after landing on Earth. "I am."

"I love you," Heero told me, and I smiled. We had problems that still needed to be fixed, things that needed to be said, issues to be cleared. But in the end, if we held on to our love for one another, we could bully our way through those problems.

"I love you, too, Heero. So much it hurts sometimes."

"Just sometimes?" And the second joke made me bite the man's hair.

"Hey!" He pushed up from me, glaring that familiar glare. I just grinned cheekily at him.

And the doorbell rang.

"Argh." I flopped against the couch for a second before getting up. "Stay there." I pointed at his seat on the couch, thus earning myself a second glare. Heero was rubbing at his scalp as if I'd actually done damage to him. It made me laugh.

"Shut up," he grumbled.

I was still laughing as I opened the door, but it stopped short as soon as I looked outside. I frowned, going into instant alert. There was no one there. "Fuck." I shut the door immediately. "Heero, get away from the windows." But he was already standing beside me. I growled at him. "You aren't getting involved."

"What's happening?" he asked, completely ignoring me.

"I don't know. No one's out there; I saw something on the porch and just slammed the door without thinking."

But a couple minutes passed, and still there was no explosion. Thank goodness. Une was probably sick and tired of fixing up this house.

Finally I shooed Heero off and managed to get the door open, Heero fuming and sitting on the floor rubbing his chest, which had begun to hurt during our argument over said door-opening procedures. He looked ready to jump up at the slightest provocation. I swore to myself that I wouldn't flinch even if I opened the door to a gun in my face.

There was no gun, however, and a better inspection of the porch showed nothing save a small note held down with a small rock. I picked it up and, ignoring Heero's warning growl, unfolded it and read it, closing the door and turning to Heero as I did.

Duo. From what I've heard and seen, you've managed to get yourself in a lot of trouble while I've been gone. But I owe you a favor, since you got rid of Caribol and effectively freed me. Because of that, I'll help you with your missing predecessors.

It was unsigned. I read it again. "From what I've head and seen, you've managed to get yourself in a lot of trouble. Whoever it is, he's a smartass."

"Let me read it," Heero ordered, standing again and holding out his hand for the note. I stared pointedly at the couch, and it was with a curse and a huff that he made his way over to the thing and sat down. His hand reached imperiously for the note once again.

I grinned and dangled it in front of him. "Do you think _you_ know the guy? It's addressed to me, after all. Maybe it's another secret admirer."

We both grimaced at that.

Heero snatched the thing from my hand and read quickly. "'Since I've been gone?'" he quoted. "That's a strange way to say 'since we've seen each other.'"

"Yeah, tell me about it. And who the hell did we help by getting rid of Caribol, other than us?"

"Whoever wrote this is offering to find 'our missing predecessors.' That's pretty straightforward."

"Yeah." I thought for a minute, stretching the muscles I'd stiffened, waiting for an attack. Shit. All this crap we'd gone through was making me as paranoid as I'd been during the damn war.

"Is it someone I've met?" Heero wondered, tilting his head as he studied the note.

"Probably not," I replied honestly, "since we went different ways after the war. Unless it's someone from our personal war circle, I can't think of anyone else... but I'd tried very hard to _not_ get involved with anyone in any way while I was out..." My brows furrowed.

Heero gasped softly. "Duo," he said softly, "I think I might have an idea as to who wrote this."

"Congrats, 'cause I don't have a clue." I plopped onto the seat and stretched out my legs. "So? Who?"

Heero's cobalt gaze slid up to mine. The note dangled a bit negligently in his hand, almost as if what he was about to tell me was surprising even to him. "Duo," he said, his voice careful, "could it be that man Greaves?"

* * *

Okay, so I finished the Metallica Saga for you guys for Halloween, blatantly ignoring schoolwork for you (LOVE ME!), and Here I am doing it again. Well, anyway, I can definitely feel this series beginning to end, and thought the thought it depressing me a bit, the story's going strong, so I'm pleased about that.

To everyone who's been reading with me all this time, thank you so much! Your encouragement is the reason I've made it this far, and I'm going to endeavor to finish this up for all of you. Please stay with me until the end. :)


	2. Hold Out Your Hand

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing? Sure, it's mine. And also you're stupid.

* * *

Sub Rosa

Chapter Two

Hold Out Your Hand

* * *

It made sense.

It was disturbing, crazy. What the hell was Greaves doing hanging around here again? The last time he'd decided to meet up with me for a reunion, it was to kill my sorry ass. But if I tried to remember, he _had_ said that he was a cyborg, and he _had_ said something about Caribol.

It made sense.

"I remember you saying," Heero started, but I cut him off with a loud whoop.

"Heero, my man, you did it again!" I got up and laughed. "You're right; it makes total bloody perfect fucking sense. Why didn't I see it?"

"Because you weren't thinking, maybe?" he answered, smirking. "And do you need so many adjectives?"

"Do I what?" I glared at him. "No smart-person talk from you, Yuy. I'm excited here. Greaves is actually gonna help us find these guys. And I have no idea how, but I'll bet he only left that note because he's already found something. That suits his style. Awesome! Now you don't have to wait for a bomb to bash through a window."

Heero's eyes darkened. The stare he gave me said he'd been more concerned about something that had the capacity to move on its own. I cocked an eyebrow.

But then we had to buck up and call the others to tell them, and hell if Quatre didn't cancel a fucking speech and come straight over, Trowa in tow, wholly ignoring my complaint that we didn't damn well _have_ anything yet, and when Wufei heard Quatre was coming he was hopping over, too, and to hell with my saying there was no point to it.

So within an hour – Quatre had refused to move far away for the recording of his speech, so the vultures and parasites had to come _here_. Quatre was going to get some serious flack for canceling, but he didn't seem to care.

And then we were all gathered around Heero's living room, me making sure Heero grabbed the couch and having Wufei join him; Quatre took the chair and Trowa leaned on the wall beside him. I took the floor beneath Heero and leaned against the couch, my legs underneath the coffee table.

Quatre was the first to lean forward. "So this Greaves guy, he can find the other three men the doctors chose before us?"

"Yeah," I confirmed.

Heero spoke up next. "He's one who attacked us earlier, when Duo was still recovering from Harlow."

I glared at him. Sure, let's introduce the man first as an enemy. That would help.

So we had to go over that whole damn thing with Quatre, who hadn't been given all the information there, either. I cast Trowa a wary glance; the man usually was so pissed off by anything relating me to any sort of danger that he would be trying to hold himself back from hurting me physically. But he was just listening, a hand on the back of the chair, ready to go to Quatre if he was needed.

I blinked when his eye caught mine, waiting for hell to break loose, but absolutely nothing happened. The man just looked at me, into my eyes, and seemed to see my nervousness. And then he smirked and turned back to Wufei, who was speaking now.

And I was left to wonder just what the hell was going on.

The explanation finally finished, and hell if Quatre wasn't frowning. "I'd heard Duo had been reckless, but I hadn't known quite how-"

And I cut him off right there, not willing to hear about how stupid I'd been. "So Greaves has apparently decided to show up again, this time minus the try-to-kill-me thing."

"The thing is, should we trust him?" Wufei asked. His eyes turned to me.

I shrugged. "I don't see why not. He was on orders to kill me, orders he'd needed to follow because he was pretty much owned by Caribol. He's not anymore; he's probably back to his merc ways. That means helping those who help you and are on your side. Simple as that." I looked to Trowa for confirmation, but he only shrugged and tilted his head. It was plain he was saying that even if that were true for him, it didn't mean it was true for Greaves.

"Strange," Quatre murmured. "Caribol might not have gotten such immediate attention from all of us if this Greaves guy hadn't come, right?"

"Technically," Heero admitted, his voice reluctant.

"That is exactly correct, Quatre, my man," I said, beaming, not letting Heero's cynicism control the emotional airwaves in the room. "Greaves is a good guy. He's like Heero and Wufei combined."

Heero and Wufei both sputtered.

Quatre seemed to accept my words and clapped his hands together. "So how do you think he'll be sending the information to you?"

"Hell if I know. Hopefully he won't be creative to the point of destructive again."

Heero passed me a rather droll look.

So we wasted another hour or so speculating, and then it was time to cook, and when I headed out, Quatre offered to help. I declined, but Trowa said he was going with me and the look he sent me had me gulping down any argument.

We left the room to Heero and Wufei and Quatre, Heero's gaze watching the both of us leave, warnings clear in those midnight blue eyes.

I blushed at the blatantly possessive stare. _Please_ tell me nobody else saw it.

"I won't kill him," Trowa called back, and I just flamed. Trowa saw and laughed.

"Son of a bitch," I grumbled, but nonetheless led him into the kitchen and pulled out the pans we would be needing. "It's just simple chicken and rice and veggies," I mumbled. I was an okay cook, yes, but I wasn't anything to write home about, either.

"I'll save it," Trowa told me. I snorted.

We were quiet for a time. I took out the chicken and put it in the mike to defrost it. Trowa took out the rice, then the squash and zucchini. I looked at him with a cocked eyebrow and broke the silence just as the microwave dinged. "I don't know how to cook that crap."

"I do."

Smartass.

Then it was preparation and getting to learn how to move around one another in the room. We were silent again for a short time.

When we safely had the chicken in the oven and the water on to boil for the rice and whatever the hell it was that Trowa did for the zucchini and squash was done, too, Trowa moved us over to the table. Apparently it was Conversation Time.

This wasn't my story to start, so I just sat and waited, hands clasped in front of me on the table. Trowa leaned back in his seat, taking on that deceptively calm air he'd always had during the war. He crossed his arms over his chest.

"I'm still not happy with you."

It was an interesting way to start the conversation, and I just lifted an eyebrow. "Uh... yes?"

He snorted. "But I've been watching you." Well that didn't sound stalker-ish or anything. "Carefully." Definitely stalker-ish. "And though you constantly placed yourself and those around you in danger, attempted to kill one of my best friends-" I flinched violently on that one "-and tried to cowardly run away from your responsibilities by killing yourself, something my Quatre wept over for weeks."

I flinched again, even as my mind caught, surprised and awed, th unconscious use of the possessive. _My_ Quatre. And I think it finally clicked, why Trowa was so furious. I mean, it wasn't as if I hadn't known; obviously it was for Quatre. But I could see now that Trowa's life practically revolved around Quatre, though I couldn't understand how or why, and anything that hurt Quatre was physically painful to Trowa, and unforgivable.

It hit me, sharp and true, in that one sharp instant as pain wrapped around me, and I opened my mouth to speak, to apologize, now that I truly understood.

"Shut up," Trowa ordered. I shut my mouth.

Trowa got up for a moment, and I heard him doing something with the vegetables. It was about time for me to put the rice in the pot, so I got up and did that. It was awkward until Trowa seemed to decide to not wait for us to sit again, and while I was stirring the rice and he was... doing... something with the veggies, he spoke.

"But the two of you truly do love one another."

His voice was so soft I almost missed it, and when the words sunk in I jolted, almost spilling the hot water on my hand. I cursed and mumbled under my breath and turned on the fan over the stove, since a little water had fallen and was now sizzling and steaming all over the place.

"You and Quatre have a relationship I could never have with him, and I've seen it over and over again." Trowa sounded a bit sad by that, but I couldn't see his face behind all the damn steam. "And I've seen you changing over these past weeks. It's made me remember who you were. During the war."

It so seemed to echo what Heero had said earlier that it made me blink rather dumbly. I almost burned the pasta. With another curse, I turned the heat down.

"So I forgive you," Trowa finished, his voice low. Nevertheless I heard it, and I blinked owlishly at him.

"What?"

"Don't make me repeat it, Duo Maxwell," Trowa growled, but through the receding steam I thought I saw a slight smile. "I told you, I'm still not happy with you."

I grinned; Trowa had practically let it go completely. "Thanks, man. I'll keep working on it."

"Do, and I'll call us even."

"...You got it."

* * *

I closed the door behind Quatre and Trowa, who had stayed longer than Wufei, the former still calling out assurances that they would not be returning to work for a few days because of skipping the meeting and informing us that we had only to call. Guests officially gone, I turned toward Heero. The man was leaning back against the back of the couch, and his shoulders were a bit slumped. He was exhausted.

I went over and grinned down at him. "Bedtime, sleepy-head?"

He turned a droll stare my way. "No."

"Yes," I argued primly, and leaned down. "Come on. Nappy time."

"Duo, I am _going_ to hit you."

"Not with that injured collarbone, you're not." I watched as the man growled, then gave up and stood, slowly enough that he couldn't help but confirm my suspicions on how tired he was. He glared at me then, as if he knew what I was thinking, and finally let me help him up the stairs to his bed.

"Nighty-night," I whispered as I tucked him into his bed, and that glare of his turned up a notch until I gently kissed him.

I saw the flare of passion in his eyes and carefully pretended to be oblivious. It wasn't that I didn't want to go there with him – the fact that he and I had yet to have sex was driving me absolutely insane – but he was still injured and we had potential enemies to find. And now that I knew Greaves was around, the last thing I wanted to do was have sex, not knowing if the guy was watching.

Ew. That thought was just nasty.

Despite his tough-guy act, Heero was out like a light within seconds. I sneaked out of his room and went back downstairs to take care of the dishes.

When Trowa and I had come out with the food, the topic had changed to Zechs, and Wufei, Heero, and Quatre had been in a heated discussion over what they were going to do about Zechs' acts. In the end, they all decided to wait and see what Zechs had to say in his defense – something Quatre and I had been advocating from the start.

And then they'd all left, most likely respecting Heero's waning strength. Or maybe it was because Heero looked about ready to burst, so difficult was it for him to keep from bombarding me with questions about my conversation with Trowa. And no doubt that would be the first thing he worried about when he woke up, the first damn thing he asked me.

And I could actually give him some good news.

It made me smile, thinking about it. We may not be at full strength, but my relationship with Trowa truly was healing. Thank goodness. And even better, I was really starting to _get_ the guy.

Yay. Warm fuzzies all around.

I finished washing the dishes – when I want some time to think, I just clean the dishes myself – and I was in the process of drying them when my back stiffened of its own accord. A tingling sensation swept up my arms and alarm bells rang rather loudly in the back of my head.

I turned to the back door.

Greaves was just stepping inside, his eyes carefully on mine. He closed the door behind him, absolutely silent, like a fucking ninja. I cocked an eyebrow. There was no way that door wasn't locked.

"Sorry to intrude," Greaves murmured, "but I couldn't help but notice that your lover was sleeping."

I didn't bother to correct him on the 'lover' portion. It was close enough. "And why exactly do you want to talk to me alone?" Though I also lowered my voice, unwilling to end up making the guy leave. He was our only possible link to our three missing predecessors.

"Because your lover wants to kill me for what I did to you earlier."

I was ready to argue, but it sounded true and Greaves only stated something as fact when he knew it as fact. So I shrugged. "Okay. So why did you come?"

The man smiled. "I'm glad I didn't kill you."

"Uh, yeah. Have to say I'm glad about that, too. And vice versa, man."

"I heard about what happened to you, and I decided to help you in return for taking down Caribol. After this, we're once again even."

"Yeah, sure thing. Do you want to sit down?"

"Thank you." I led him over to a chair and sat down myself. Really, Greaves looked completely human. He must have been one of Caribol's better creations, and I wondered how long he'd been kept in one of the tubes Heero had seen in Caribol before he'd gone missing. Then things flashed in my head and I cringed away from the thoughts altogether.

"So you've decided to help us find the other three pre-Gundam pilots," I said, trying to start the conversation again. Damn, I was having a lot of conversations. I was about filled to the brim with the damn things.

"Yes. I've already found one."

I blinked. "What? Really?" I leaned against the desk. "How? Who?"

Greaves outright grinned, and the shock of it froze me for a second. But then he simply said, "his name is Carn, and he is the predecessor to Quatre Raberba Winner. I believe the man was with you this evening."

I frowned. "You've been spying on us."

"Of course. I needed to speak to you alone, since only you would be certain to not attempt to fight with me."

"Yeah." I scratched my head and sat back. "Sorry about that."

"They care about you."

"Yeah, ain't it a kick?" I grinned and shrugged and sat back. It hit me, then, again, how sad Greaves seemed when he said it. "Hey, you know you can join the group, right?"

But Greaves just chuckled and shook his head. "No, thank you. I prefer my life as it is. I'm very pleased yours has changed, however. The life of a mercenary doesn't suit you. But this is not what I came for."

The man placed a tape in front of me. The thing was positively ancient, a bulky cassette with the recording tape not only visible but actually touchable from one end. I picked it up and stared at it.

"Preventors should have what you need to read that," he murmured, then carefully stood again. I did, too, on instinct. "I will return later, once needed."

"You're gonna disappear on me again?"

"Until needed," he repeated, and moved back toward the door. I followed after him, my pace unsteady. Greaves really was like Heero and Wufei together, and I couldn't quite understand him anymore. Had the whole Caribol mess changed him? But he was still the same guy. Just... different.

"Hey, thanks again, Greaves. You know I didn't take down Caribol for you. You don't have to do this."

"I'm repaying a debt." The man opened the door just as soundly as he had only minutes earlier, and when he closed the door, the only reason I knew was because I watched him do it. I locked it, then as a joke grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled a quick 'Just knock!' on the thing and taped it up.

Then the night outside seemed to infect me, or I really did just lose my damn energy to all those stupid conversations, because suddenly I was just fucking exhausted. I clopped my sorry ass through the house, double-checking the locks and the windows and just fucking everything, and then I trudged my way up the stairs and into my room. The tape went under my pillow, and I couldn't find the wherewithal to pull my hand out from underneath.

I fell asleep without even pulling up the covers.


	3. Believe It Or Not

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing? Sure, it's mine. And also you're stupid.

Merry Christmas, minna!

* * *

Sub Rosa

Chapter Three

Believe It Or Not

* * *

I snuggled deep under the covers and moaned in bliss. I did not want to wake up yet; I had to go to work, and I wasn't yet used to the idea of a set time schedule. It was annoying.

But it was Friday, and that made me happy, so I groaned and sighed and got up and pushed away the covers. And blinked.

I hadn't pulled up the covers. And apparently I had clutched the damn tape the entire night, although thankfully I'd also managed to keep myself from harming it. I took a look at it for a moment and, upon once again confirming its safety, proceeded to get ready.

I was done my shower and about half-dressed when I finally noticed that I could smell coffee and bacon.

"_Shit_," I muttered, and then I was moving like lightning, grabbing a stupid Preventor polo shirt and shoving it over my head, and then I was down the stairs, not even caring about how horrendous my braid must look, and whirled my way into the kitchen.

Heero really was walking around the damn kitchen, slowly but competently cracking eggs against the rim of a pan and tossing them fluidly into the trash.

"Heero, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

Heero looked over to me and grinned. Rather cheekily. "I woke up before you and saw you had crashed last night. So I took over breakfast duties. And don't start with me, because you once did the same thing for me."

I frowned, vaguely remembering doing such a thing every once and a while. I also remembered how much of a strain it had been. "I'll do the rest. Sit down."

"No. You haven't fixed your hair, and it's dripping. And I'm almost done. Now stop being a twit and braid your hair."

I snarled at him. "Heero-"

"I remember how tiring it was to care for someone, no matter how much I wanted to do it, and I'm not having you tired and stressed when you have to get ready for a structured occupation for the first time in your life. Now shut up and braid your hair."

Well, fuck. I had nothing to say to that one.

So I ended up braiding my damn hair and ate Heero's food – delicious as always – and put the dishes in the dishwasher. Then I kissed him softly.

"I want to know what happened between you and Trowa last night," Heero grumbled.

"I'll tell you everything you missed," I promised, in my mind including my meeting with Greaves, and then paused just outside the door, my customary 'be careful' on my tongue. "Hey, Heero?" I called.

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to kill Greaves?"

There was a pause from the kitchen before Heero called back, "no. Maybe I'll just maim him."

I chuckled uneasily. "Um, okay. Be careful!"

Heero snorted, and I thought I heard cynical mumbling under his breath. Knowing what he was complaining about, I shouted, "just remember how much trouble _I_ got into."

And at Heero's horrified laugh, I clicked the door softly behind me.

* * *

Zechs wouldn't be in until the afternoon, so I had my lunch hour to find out just what it was Greaves had given me. I didn't even consider calling Wufei in, wanting Heero to be the first person I spoke to about this.

I had managed to find literally only _one_ machine that could play the old wreck of a recording device, hidden deep in the crevices of the Preventors building, so I was hard-pressed to keep myself from wondering just how the hell Greaves had managed to make one. But when I finally got the damn thing going, thoughts of Greaves' inventiveness left.

"Strike, I'm going to give you the information you need first, just in case the tape is eventually overheard, so be sure you're alone. Carn stands for Carnivore. He's in a psychiatric hospital. As of now, he has already eaten three men, all of them Asian, and has tried to chew through his restraints six times. He's been incarcerated for three years, and has thankfully been in a steel cage for over two of those. According to his psychiatrists, his mind has snapped under the weight of his intelligence, though I'm certain you understand what truly happened.

"If you do decide to speak to Carn, I suggest leaving your lover and his partner behind. If you cannot guarantee such a thing, perhaps this one secret would be best. The decision is yours. I wish you the best of luck, Duo Maxwell."

I blinked. Then again.

"_What?!_"

Quatre's predecessor was a cannibal? A psycho cannibal? And he ate Asians?

And I felt fear flutter in my chest, tight and cutting, and suddenly I found my cell phone in my hand and the home phone number already dialed before reason clicked in. I hadn't called in to Heero since my first week, assuring him that I was fine and in turn finding out if he was well. He would know something was wrong _immediately_ if I called him. And that would not be good.

I closed my phone and took a deep, deep breath. And when the oxygen finally hit my brain, I called the one person I knew would tell it to me straight.

"Duo? Duo, why are you calling me in the middle of the day? Is something wrong?"

"Hey, Qat," I sighed, and I double-checked to make sure the room I was in was not only empty but free of people outside, too. It was rather unnecessary; I'd been sent to the boondocks of the building. Apparently no one but weird-ass cyborgs used such an old-ass piece of technology as a cassette tape. And most likely for this exact reason. Satisfied that I was safely alone, I sat back in the stool I'd been on before and raked a hand through my bangs. "I know this is gonna sound weird as hell, but is Trowa there?"

Quatre was interestingly quiet for a few moments, but he finally said, "sure, just a minute," and he put down the phone.

Shit. I'd just hurt his feelings. Now Trowa was gonna kill me, not help me.

As soon as I heard the phone being picked up I started. "Trowa, tell Quatre I'm sorry, I am _so_ sorry so don't get pissed; I wasn't trying to be an ass-"

"Duo," Trowa said, and his voice when I heard it didn't fit the category of 'pissed' that I'd made in my head, "what in the hell is so important that you would actually call _me_ instead of anyone else?"

"Because you're the only one who will tell me to shut the fuck up if I'm being an idiot," I confessed, and it earned me a short laugh.

I heard Quatre's voice from behind Trowa, and then Trowa's muffled voice calling back, "he just needs someone to yell at him for a minute." Then he was back to me. "So what is it?"

So I explained to him what I'd just learned from the tape and took a short second to explain that I'd crashed and hadn't had the time to tell Heero. "But I'm telling him as soon as I get back," I said, and earned another short laugh for some reason.

"Fine. And you're right; it's best to not tell Heero."

I was absolutely shocked. "I'm sorry? What? Usually you tell me I'm stupid-"

"And you are. But this time you're right. Heero – and Wufei, as well – will both want to go with you to see this 'Carnivore.' I'll go with you instead."

I blinked. "I'm sorry?" I said again, and I think my jaw might have dropped.

Quatre said something in the background again, and Trowa answered, "no, you have things to do since you decided to play hookie last night."

I grinned. I'd never quite imagined Trowa saying 'hookie' before, and it was rather hilarious. "Quatre can't come," I said then, and I understood that saying such was completely unnecessary, but the idea scared me nonetheless. Quatre had grown up with men from the Middle East, and some say his family went back to Middle Eastern roots, and though people forgot, the Middle East was a part of Asia. I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of that before.

"No shit, Duo?" Trowa snorted, and though I'd known he would say something like that, nonetheless I was relieved. "Now don't you have a job to return to?"

"Oh, _fuck_," I muttered, and hung up on Trowa's laughter.

Zechs would be back in – I checked my watch – twenty minutes or so. And knowing Wufei, he was already on his way to Une's, which meant he was going to check on me. Which meant that I needed to get my ass back to my office.

And I refused to dwell on the idea of myself with an office.

* * *

We were like some sort of battalion, and I could only guess what kind of impression we made as Zechs entered Une's office. It was almost comical, if creepy, and the man hesitated just inside the doorway.

He looked haggard, tired and absolutely done-in. Just as one would expect from someone who'd just returned from a long mission. Or whatever Preventors called it.

But Zechs was nothing if not composed, the little dick, and he just hummed and smiled as he closed the door behind him. "I take it you got my message."

"Too little too late," I snapped. Wufei seemed about ready to speak up, too, but Une stood from behind her desk and damned if that woman couldn't make those around her just shut the fuck up.

All Une had to do was cock an eyebrow and tap her desk lightly once and Zechs came forward between Wufei and myself and bowed slightly. "I've finally returned. The bust was a success. No one was injured." Then he looked to the two of us, one side, then the other. The smirk on his face took away the last vestiges of my patience and I just steamed to the point of snapping.

"I know that. I've already received reports from Haley and McDonnegal. You already know what we're here for."

"Yes, I do." He cast a sidelong glance at me and smirked right in my face. I saw red.

"Agent Maxwell, please calm yourself."

Zechs and I both heard the accent on the word agent and the man turned back to her, his eyes wide. "He's an agent now?"

"Yes."

It seemed Haley and McDonnegal had neglected to mention that fact. It was my turn to smirk.

"How much information have you been given, Agent Merquise?" Une demanded. She was still standing, just as Wufei and I were, and we looked so much like a united force that the man actually lost the smirk.

"I've been informed as to the successful take-down of Caribol and the injury to Agent Yuy. I have also been given a rumor that Agent Yuy and... Agent Maxwell are intimately related."

The bastard cast me _another_ sidelong glance. I narrowed my eyes; I'd caught the slight hesitation before my name and I caught that disbelief in his eyes, that annoying belief that I was inferior in some way from the other Gundam pilots, and my hands just fucking _itched_ to curl around his neck.

"All of which is correct, though the latter has little to do with our discussion. Sit down, all of you."

We did, Wufei and I instinctively keeping Merquise between us. Flanked.

Une spoke again. "I would like to know how you came across the information concerning the leader of Caribol and why you sent the information to us."

"Simple. The records were on file in the target computer, and I'd heard rumors of Caribol targeting Agent Yuy from my last report."

"From whom?" Une snapped.

"Barkley."

"I'll be confirming that. Maybe you'd like to state a little more about what you found?"

"It was a rather small file; they'd simply kept watch over the leaders of Caribol since it's destruction at the hands of Strike." The man's lip curled; he obviously didn't like the idea of vigilante justice. And just as obvious, he had no idea who I was. It made me smirk again. "I found information on the current leader and decided I could give Agent Yuy a little help."

And usurp his superiority. I snarled.

"Unfortunately, as you said, the information seemed to be too little, too late. I hadn't made it too obvious, but I'd thought Agent Yuy would find it for certain. I was unaware of his absence."

Meaning, of course, that if he'd known only Wufei and potentially myself were around, he would have dumbed it down for us. I heard Wufei hiss on his end.

"So you're saying your intentions were pure."

"Pure enough, for someone like me," he said, and the way he leaned back stank of confidence. I was trembling, so difficult was it to keep myself from hitting the man. "I am still a bit concerned about the focus on Caribol, even after its initial destruction. Now that it's completely ruined, however, I can't imagine the threat. Especially now that my end is also complete. Still, we should see if there is anything else connecting them."

Une's lips were thin. "You will be doing that from within the walls of this building. Until I have everything checked out, Agent Merquise, consider yourself on probation."

"Of course."

The bastard stood with a regal flourish and bowed again before turning to exit the room. He turned. "Oh. May I ask who it was who finally found my message?"

Une nodded her head to me. "That would be Agent Maxwell."

He looked at me with sharp surprise. I don't think he could have been more shocked if he'd been told it had been a half-dead warthog. "I see." And he continued on out the door.

I waited two full seconds before standing myself, far less regally, and punched my hand, not knowing anything else in the room that I could punch without getting in trouble. "I'll fucking kill him," I growled. Wufei stood, as well, and I could see an equal sort of restlessness in him.

"As tempting as I'm sure that is for you," Une drawled, "I'd prefer to not have to deal with the paperwork. Now, the both of you have work to get back to, and I would absolutely love it if you did. Get out of my office."

Wufei and I both did, though I didn't bother with the bullshit bow and therefore was the first of the two of us out. He followed in just another second and we stared at each other for a short moment. And I found us doing that same partner-conversation, that silent communication, and was stunned by it.

And we parted ways, both of us knowing that the other was livid with Merquise, that Wufei wanted to rip his fucking head off his shoulders, and that neither of us would be putting our guards down at work for quite a while.

* * *

"Tell me."

"Jesus Christ, Yuy, I'm hardly in the house."

Heero was in his wheelchair, most likely to avoid the distraction of an argument, and was waiting practically right inside the damn door. I dropped my keys in the bowl on the sofa table just inside the door and turned to him. "May I change out of this damn outfit first, please? I swear to god, the woman chose these clothes specifically to make us feel stupid in them."

"She did no such thing," he argued, and his words told me I had a few minutes to lose the polo shirt and fancy pants. I hurried up to my room and sighed. I could easily talk to Heero about my conversation with Trowa, but what would I say about Greaves? Since I'd had no initial intention to hide his visit, I'd just taped up a note to the door without worrying about it.

I should have worried about it.

No doubt Heero's insistence was because he'd been puttering around – or walking around, the stupid dick – and had found the note. So now he knew that someone had dropped by while I was alone, and judging from the note and the question I'd asked him before I'd left, he could only assume it was Greaves.

So what the hell was I going to say?

I thought quick, even as I returned downstairs, and Heero had moved from his wheelchair to the couch, and it was obvious he was planning for me to sit next to him. I had a feeling it was more to be able to study my eyes more than it was a desire to be close.

I smiled at him. "Geez, Heero, you'd think I hadn't bloody well promised to tell you everything." And I felt guilty as sin, because I intended to do nothing of the sort. "Where do you want me to start?"

Heero looked pointedly to the kitchen.

"Uh, Heero, both conversations happened in the kitchen."

"So you don't deny he was here."

"I _told_ you," I huffed, "I'll tell you _everything_ when I get home. And why the fuck would I hide it? Better yet, _how_? I stuck up a sign on the kitchen door!"

Heero gave me an interesting little look, both assessing and... pouty? I stifled that thought before it made me laugh and sat down beside Heero. "So I take it you want to hear about Greaves first?"

"Yes. I do."

I was disconcerted there for a second; that was exactly how Merquise had spoken to Une. It made me frown. "He came in the back door when I was done cleaning the dishes."

"He broke in?"

"Uh-huh," I answered carefully, and saw the immediate Perfect Soldier look. "He didn't attack or anything. I don't know that he even had a weapon. I didn't see any, not even his little needle-things. Then again, he _is_ a cyborg, isn't he..."

"Duo." Heero's voice was a warning.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. Anyway, he came in and told me he'd found one of the predecessors and that he would send me information later." I told the absolute truth; he'd told me all that. He'd just told me something else. And he'd given me something.

I would explain all of that, I really would. It would just be _after_ Trowa and I went to see him. _After_ we went through his files and tried to track down something before Greaves did, or something Greaves missed.

_After_ the danger had passed.

"He would give the information to _you_?"

"Yeah. Apparently because my lover wants him dead."

"I said I would only maim him." Though it looked like Heero was rethinking the idea. "So he'll wait until you're alone."

Well that made him sound like some sort of assassin. "Yeah."

Heero leaned forward and snagged my lips in a quick, deep kiss. I was so surprised I didn't get to return it before it was over. "I will not have you doing anything dangerous," Heero snapped. "And if it's to make sure he doesn't do anything to you, I will refrain from harming him. So put that on your note. Got it?"

I blinked. "Uh... sure?"

"Good." That apparently settled, Heero sat back. "Did he give you any information?"

And this would be where I had to lie. "He just said he'd get back to me."

Heero frowned, but he didn't say anything to that. "Fine. And Trowa?"

I beamed at him. "Can you believe it's actually good news?"

A small tension left Heero's shoulders. "I'd been fairly certain, but I'm glad to know without a doubt."

I gasped. "You ass! You mean you knew he wasn't pissed with me anymore?"

"I had an idea."

"Asshole!"

But Heero just leaned forward and kissed me again, this time a lot longer, and I carefully returned it, letting the fire course through me, letting myself, for a very short moment, fall into it. But eventually I made us part, feeling my control slipping, feeling the desire to push him down and pull him toward me and knowing without a doubt that doing so would hurt him.

Heero looked frustrated for a second, but then his face smoothed over. "I love you."

I laughed; he'd just kissed me so hard I'd wondered if he was trying to suck out my soul, and he was telling me he loved me? It seemed a bit redundant. I leaned in closer to him, until our noses brushed. "I love you, too, Heero. Even though you're annoying as shit."

"And I'll love you despite your emo poet soul."

"I'll kill you for that one."

"And I'll forgive you for stealing my lines."

I laughed again, absolutely delighted. I couldn't imagine having a more perfect relationship – except, of course, for the annoying discomfort in my pants.


	4. Next Contestant

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing? Sure, it's mine. And also you're stupid.

* * *

Sub Rosa

Chapter Four

Next Contestant

* * *

Trowa and Quatre were too damn prompt. I was enjoying sleep, dreaming painfully erotic dreams, Phantom Heero's lips trailing lower and lower, and then that damn doorbell clanged through my skull.

I awoke in the worst of moods.

Heero, of course, was already awake, the little prick, and I heard him welcoming Quatre and Trowa into the house. "Wheelchair!" I shouted, and traipsed pissily to the bathroom.

"In it!" he called back, and I swear I could hear the fucker smirking. I was sorely tempted to pee on the toilet, but in the end I would have to clean it up, since Heero's healing collarbone probably wouldn't heal well with him bending over on his knees. So I was louder than necessary washing my face and hands and getting dressed.

When I finally made my way downstairs, Quatre and Trowa were conversing loudly with one another, making comments that were answered just as loudly by Heero, who was most definitely cooking something up in the kitchen. I barely managed a good morning to our two guests before stomping into the kitchen.

I was waylaid in my efforts to yell at Heero for doing the opposite of what I said to do – pure stubborn factor on both of our parts, I was sure – when the smell of bacon and eggs hit my nose. Heero Yuy was not a bacon person. Which meant it was for me.

Fuck. I couldn't stay mad at him when I was going all emotionally gooey and my damn mouth was drooling.

"Good morning, Duo." The bastard didn't look at me, but I could still see the triumphant smirk on his face. The ass knew he'd won this round.

"I'll get you next time," I grumbled, and looked at the eggs. They were almost ready.

"So I have permission to do it again?"

"No!" I snapped, glaring, but he was already ignoring me for what Trowa had just said. I'd tuned him out.

"Where will you be going?" Heero asked.

Oh, shit. Trowa must've brought up our secret plans for the day.

"Calm down, Yuy. I'll bring him back alive."

Trowa's sarcasm made Heero blush, but he looked about ready to battle for the information, anyway. I wanted to be angry about it, but I could understand the fear. When stuck in a wheelchair, it's rather difficult to have someone you cared for out of your sight. How could you be sure that person was safe? Fears always got compounded when one was physically incapacitated.

So I shouted, "don't goad him, Trowa," and followed it up with a short, "we're only going on a drive. Trowa promised me a milkshake, too."

"Small," he called out, playing along as Heero assessed me.

"Medium," I bartered.

"_Small_," he repeated.

"Extra chocolate. And _large_."

"...Medium."

Heero sighed while I grinned in victory and pumped a fist. "Boo-yah!"

"Your food's ready," he said, and I looked down at him as he moved over to grab a plate. I went over and fetched it for him, more easily able to reach it.

"And you?" I asked carefully, scooping my over-easy eggs onto the plate with the spatula Heero had used to cook them.

"I already ate. An hour ago."

I looked down at him to assess his eyes. "Really?"

Heero looked ready to snap at me, but that considering look came over his face and I realized he was thinking about how it felt from _my_ perspective, from how he'd felt when he was the one taking care of the injured. And he sighed. "Really."

"Okay." And I let it go, grabbing my bacon and sticking one immediately into my mouth before I moved to enter the living room. Heero had already given up telling me to eat in the kitchen, way back when I'd first been stuck in a wheelchair. He'd eventually gotten used to the idea of not being tied to his table to eat, so I was safe to sit and enjoy.

"When are you going to be ready to go?" Trowa asked as I munched. "I thought you'd be up by now."

"Stupid hours," I muttered, gulping down the bacon and slipping in another. Heero moved from his wheelchair to the sofa, and without thinking we linked hands. "I'm still not used to getting up at the same damn time for five straight days for no damn good reason. I'm in there two damn hours before I teach that class, and then all I do is research and shit since I don't have a partner."

Quatre smiled. "It's odd, thinking of you with a nine-to-five job."

"Odd? Damn, Qat, it _blows_. How the hell do you do it?"

"Practice," he answered easily, and I threw a piece of bacon at him. He caught it and popped it in his mouth, grinning wickedly at my petulant glare.

I caught Heero's torn gaze and knew he was trying very hard not to hover. It made me grin. "We'll be good, Heero," I promised, just barely skirting the edges of truth. "Hey, Qat, what're you doing today?"

But Quatre was already rolling his eyes. "As soon as Trowa told me you were heading out together, I decided to stay here with Heero. You don't need to worry. We'll keep each other occupied wondering about what the two of you will manage to get into, who's coming back with the black eye, and whether you're going to end up calling to inform us that one of you is in the hospital."

I chuckled a little uneasily, my thoughts on exactly what we were preparing to do. "Uh, I really don't think it'll come to that, Qat." I carefully kept my eyes away from Trowa's face.

Heero's eyes narrowed.

"If it did, Trowa would be out on his ass tonight." Quatre glared at his lover in warning.

"Qat, why do you assume I would lose?"

Quatre's startled eyes flashed back to me. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean that..." He saw my cocky grin and scowled. "Nevermind. I'll give him a gift if he knocks you out."

"How could I resist that?" Trowa said, and even though his voice was teasing, I cast him a wary glance. It looked safe. Maybe.

"Duo, you'll be careful, won't you?"

Heero's voice was more assessing than concerned, though both were in abundance. I stopped eating for a moment and grinned at him. "Heero, I already promised to be good. But if you want, I promise to not jump out of the car, throw myself through windows, or otherwise do something reckless and stupid."

"That would be the day," Heero muttered, and I stuck my tongue at him, not wanting to sacrifice another piece of bacon.

The conversation eventually turned to more mundane things, Quatre's work, Heero's frustration at his inability to_ move. _I just grinned at him understandingly during that one and he shot me a couple dark, comprehending glares. It was about time the ass knew what being an invalid was supposed to be like. At least I was learning that he really _was_ human; his usual recovery rate had made me wonder, even _before_ the whole Caribol gig. I hid my grimace at the memories with a giant bite of food.

Then I was done with my meal and Trowa and I were heading out, a last "see you" to Heero to let him know I had every intention of returning to the house safe and sound. Then Trowa and I hit the open road.

"So..." I started shortly after we left the house, me in the passenger seat, dammit all, and Trowa driving Quatre's rather ostentatious vehicle.

"So what?"

"Um, so I guess you did the research, too, and know where to go?"

Trowa snorted. "No. I'm driving aimlessly."

Sarcastic bastard.

"I was a little surprised to find that he was only a couple of hours away." I looked out the window, my eyes scanning the gas stations and fast food restaurants we passed. To think that only a state away was a man who had been Quatre's predecessor. A man who was so insane that he ate Asians. I shuddered at the thought, my imagination filling in an image of Heero near the man. Thank goodness Trowa had agreed with me and kept the secret from Heero and Qat.

"You do realize that Heero will be furious."

It wasn't a question, and he wasn't even looking at me, both hands on the wheel as he rolled us out onto the highway. I looked down at my lap. At some point I'd entwined my fingers around each other until my hands clasped one another rather awkwardly. "Yeah. He'll be absolutely livid."

"He may not forgive you."

I snorted. "I don't think it will be that bad." Still, I couldn't forget that night, that painful moment when Heero had doubted our future. I remembered how terrifying it had been, to see that iron resolve tremble. And I was afraid. "Quatre will be furious with you, too, you know."

Trowa's lips thinned. "I've already warned him that he won't be happy with what I'm going to be doing with you today."

I thought about that for a moment. Trowa switched lanes and sped up a bit as he found a nice slice of open road. "That probably wouldn't have worked with Heero."

"He never would have let you go," Trowa agreed. "The both of you are disgustingly stubborn."

I glared at him. "Well, excuse me."

"I'll try."

The man had a bloody retort for everything.

"So how did the meeting with Zechs go?"

"The bastard's off the hook," I snarled, immediately shoving my fear and frustration onto that rat. "He said some bullshit about expecting Heero to find the encrypted file and not having known that he'd been gone." I carefully skated through the euphemism for Heero's whereabouts. "He said he'd've dumbed it down for us poor, ignorant souls if he'd known."

"So his motive was pure, if not his actions."

My lips literally pulled back, almost like a rottweiler's. "Fuck pure. The bastard was trying to show Heero up. Arrogant ass."

Trowa was silent then for a long time, and I flashed back into the knowledge that our relationship was still a bit tentative. I flicked my eyes back over to him. "You're fine," he said lowly. "I'm thinking."

I let him go about whatever thought processes were flying through his head and stared back out the window. I read a boring billboard about some radio station and let my mind just wander aimlessly. It wanted to land on morbid thoughts, thoughts about Caribol and Greaves and how it would feel to be digested. So I let those images fade and thought about strangling Zechs. My lips curled up without any volition from my brain.

"You don't like him."

It had been so long I blinked rather stupidly at Trowa, not really knowing what the hell he was talking about. It finally clicked that he was talking about Zechs, and my mouth popped open before I could tell it to stay quiet. "You could tell?"

His lips flickered into a quick smile, but he dropped it rather quickly. "Yes, thank you. I could. Why?"

"You mean other than the fact that he's a reprehensible human being with the moral construct of a deranged rhino?"

He turned on his blinkers and took an exit. I recognized the road from the directions I'd memorized; he was definitely going the right way. "Yes, Duo. Other than that." He sounded exasperated, but rather amused, too. I figured I was still safe.

"Because he kept trying to kill Heero."

His eyes turned to me for the first time since we'd started the conversation, seeming surprised. They quickly returned to the road. "I should have guessed that."

"You're still used to thinking of me as a complete asstard."

He snorted then, a shocked kind of outburst. He seemed surprised again, this time because of his spontaneous mirth. "I suppose" was all he said.

We were silent for the rest of the trip, me returning to the beautiful image of Zechs' face blotching up, Trowa... thinking whatever. I considered a new way of killing the bastard after a time, tired of feeling his pulse slow under my fingertips, and decided to throw a grocery bag over his head and watch him suffocate _that_ way. Because suffocation just seemed the best way to kill him. I think my grin turned a bit feral, but Trowa didn't say anything about it and I was having far too much fun to stop.

* * *

The building was fucking creepy.

It wasn't creepy in the holy-crap-it's-huge way that Caribol had been, but in the prison-death-house kind of way. Plain white concrete, with thin, long windows that were barred up, as if anyone could fit through one without first becoming completely boneless. The yard, what there was of it, was dead and brown and depressing in and of itself, and the door was metal and thick. I blinked at the sign in front of the building, ostentatiously cheery-looking, welcoming visitors – I doubted there were many – to Harperville Psychiatric Institute in bright gold print.

Creepy.

I understand, thank you, that I am an ex-Gundam pilot. I understand that I have faced down hoards of enemies and have laughed in the face of death several times, sometimes literally. But I hovered and cowered in front of that building like any other sane person on the planet.

Hey – I'm a war orphan from L2 who's adopted family was murdered and who joined an undercover organization that sent me to fight in a war while I remained a teenager. I'm sure psychiatrists would think they had some work to do with me.

So Trowa pushed my ass forward and I trudged fearfully toward an interesting world of hell.

* * *

"I understand, sirs, that you're from Preventors, but I ask that you be careful nonetheless. Carn is very dangerous."

The doctor I'd tricked into showing Trowa and myself to Carn's room – a room, we'd learned, that had been made and designed specifically for him – was leading us down a white, empty hall. In order to keep him in his room, in order to keep the orderlies safe when they needed to wash him, feed him, or take care of anything else, the orderlies had to create a place that specifically catered to Carn's... needs.

The doctor didn't stop until he was at the end of the hall; a thick door the color of slate sat formidably in front of us. There was a tiny hole in the wall by the metal door for, according to the doctor, a freaking tranquilizer gun. I'd had a hard time containing my laughter at the idea of it, but I could hear the banging, clanging and bashing going on beyond the door, and I was a little more convinced.

"Will he be stopping any time soon?" Trowa asked, obviously referring to the noises inside.

"He gets tired easily now, since he's lost a lot of weight. As I said, we may be able to feed him now that we have that mechanical in-tray, but he doesn't eat much. He just doesn't like the meat."

My mind filled in the idea of the guy – who's pictures didn't exist anywhere on the Internet – and figured Heero into the equation. The faceless Carn was salivating. I forced myself not to shudder.

"Well," the doctor said as the banging began to subside, "I suppose the only thing left is for the two of you to interrogate him. Just remember to be careful, and make sure you maintain authority without becoming too aggressive. Good luck with that one. Sirs." The doctor put a hand on my shoulder. I tried very, very hard to remember the guy's name. Then I gave up. "Sirs, I suggest you do whatever you can to protect yourself. Carn is very capable of subduing his targets."

"Thank you. We're aware." Trowa was the one to answer the man's concern, while I was trying to remember exactly how I had planned to get answers from this psycho.

"You should stay back while we're inside," I told him.

"Trust me; I already intended to."

We waited until the doctor was out of range, and only then did I turn to Trowa. "Um, what was that dude's name again?"

Trowa just shrugged. "Do you really care?"

I thought it over for a bit. "A little."

He snorted, unlocked the three thick bolts, then pushed against the door.

I had expected Carn to try to escape through the door as soon as it was opened. You know, freedom and all that? But he didn't charge us or anything. He actually backed away a bit, one step, then a second, slower step, and cocked his head.

His hair had been buzzed off, so his oval face was unhindered by bangs or hair of any sort. A short stubble looked about to grow, though, and I remembered the doctor telling Trowa and me that they'd just washed him that morning. He said that made the man a little less irritable. Great news.

His eyes were dark, dark as night, the stubble dark, as well, but his face had the angles of a European. He was thin, a bit pale, and his mouth was muzzled with metal. He had the whole straight-jacket thing going on, too. Creepy as _fuck_.

I was the one to step forward. "You can still talk with that thing on, right?" He said nothing, but I hadn't really expected much. "We're here to ask you about the doctor who worked on you."

His lips curled back as Trowa calmly closed the door behind him. We would be trapped inside, but the doctors and nurses and shrinks would all be safe. "I smell them on you."

"The psychiatrists?" My eyebrow raised. "Congrats. Now which Doctor trained you?"

He ignored me and took a long whiff. His eyes shuttered closed, and his smile was feral.

"Hey! We're talking to you, asshole."

"Japanese," the man hissed. His eyes opened and latched on me. He could see how stiff I'd suddenly become, and he grinned. "I was right, wasn't I? But that's not the only one. You two have a _buffet_."

I snarled. "And you ain't gettin' any of it."

"Does it taste good?" he demanded. "You _have_ eaten some, haven't you? Nothing beats that flavor."

"We eat them in different ways," Trowa said blandly, cutting into my horrified fury. "Now that we've answered your questions, it's time you answered ours."

The man's eyes were shining brightly, but they turned on Trowa with deadly strength. "I have no reason to help you."

"No. But it's not like you anything better to do with your time. Unless you'd like to keep pounding against the walls," he added helpfully. It made Carn's lips curl.

The room was creeping me out. My shoulders wanted to hunch, and my eyes kept scanning the surroundings. The padded walls had been beaten on so much some places were sunk in towards the walls more than other areas. My eyes narrowed; the walls' padding needed to be redone; some places looked like he might be able to actually hurt himself if he kept pounding in those areas.

Then again, let him splatter himself. It would be a load off my shoulders, if nothing else.

"The doctor didn't give me a name," Carn growled, his eyes shifting between the two of us. "Tell them to give me some real meat, and I'll give you anything I can remember."

"'Real meat' means not human, buddy." I looked back to him, concentrating on his greedy eyes, on his mouth, the thin lips and curl that made him seem wild and evil.

Those lips lifted again, showing almost-yellow teeth and a small gap between the front two. "Then tell them to leave the blood."

Oh, that's sick.

Carn caught my look and licked his lips for my benefit. I glared at him.

"We'll see what we can do, Carn, but we can't tell them to go out and kill the cow and bring the meat in just for you. Besides, there are health regulations."

"Fuck regulations," Carn spat, and began pacing restlessly back in forth in front of us. "I want food – real food. I want what I can smell on you." He was snarling, yanking at his restraints. "It's been so long – too long. Do you know the taste of human flesh on your tongue? You can almost feel the emotions they'd felt. Especially if they're still alive."

Shit. This guy _was_ salivating.

"That bastard sold me out, and for what? For some little Asian baby brat. And when I escaped, when I wanted to make him and the others just desserts – I sacrificed – I ate one despite the taste – he would see... they can't... I won't stay in here forever, no, and then-"

"Thank you for your information," Trowa said gruffly. I found I wasn't quite able to make my lungs work. "We'll see what we can do for you regarding your diet."

The man swung toward us, his eyes feverish now. "That's right. That's right, you know about the doctors. Bloody fucking drugs. But you know the doctors. You know – you have a Japanese – _you!_"

The man lunged then, but Trowa and I were already moving, prepared as soon as we'd seen him starting to put the pieces together. Both of us kicked him square in the gut, below his arms. Winded, he fell.

Trowa moved straight for the door, easily gripping the small recess that curled into a handle. "Duo, let's go. We're leaving." He opened the door and stepped outside and turned back, but I wasn't listening to him. I'd already stomped my way over to Carn.

I picked the man up and shoved my face up against his muzzle, ignoring the cool feel of the metal on my face. "You will be stuck in here until the end of time, you filthy worm," I hissed, and his gasping attempts for air made it impossible for him to interrupt. "You will _never_ get near him again."

I shoved the fucker back onto the floor and followed after Trowa. I closed and latched the door myself.

We were back in the car, Trowa pulling out of the institute's parking lot, when my head fell into my hands of its own accord. "Shit," I murmured, and wished I could go back inside and kill that man myself.

"And now that the potential disaster is over, you will speak to Heero about this?"

It was a question, but Trowa hadn't asked it like it was. "Of course," I answered anyway, then said, "I can't believe this shit. Quatre's predecessor is _that_?"

"I'm more concerned about 'the others' and 'ate him despite the taste,'" Trowa said, but his hands were stiff on the wheel. I could tell he and Quatre would be talking tonight, too.

"The others... well, if it's what I think, then I know who he ate. Unless he ate _all_ of the guy." I bit my lip.

Trowa was only a silent for a moment, then he tensed like a bow. His knuckles went white. "You mean J."

"I may be wrong, but I can't imagine that guy just rolling over and playing dead."

"Well, at the rate this is going, I think we need to find the other two. So far, all three have had it in for at least one of us."

I snorted. "Yeah. Ain't fame great?"


	5. Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing? Sure, it's mine. And also you're stupid.

* * *

Sub Rosa

Chapter Five

Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting

* * *

Trowa had been the one to remember to buy the milkshakes, but I'd been so disturbed by the entire idea of Carn having potentially eaten J, or maybe someone else, but the man had definitely recognized that someone _Japanese_ was a part of the old Gundam team – well, I wasn't hungry.

Besides, my mind was filled enough with whatever Carn considered food.

Trowa and Quatre didn't stay long once we were all reunited, and the glances they threw at one another were very similar to the glances being thrown at me by Heero. I already knew the shit was going to hit the fan, but I wasn't necessarily looking forward to the experience.

Then again, I didn't regret my decision at all, either.

We'd arrived at about dinnertime, but Trowa and Quatre were out the door even as Heero and I invited them to stay. Heero had already begun cooking, with Quatre's help, and everything was sitting and waiting for us to eat. As soon as the door was closed behind our friends, I went out to the kitchen and started the tea, knowing Heero was going to lay into me.

"Something happened."

"Thank you, I know." My weary tone must have sent something to him, because he simply wheeled himself my way and waited by the table. I dunked the bags in the heated water and grabbed the honey and made my eventual way to the table. Heero was cooking some ham casserole; it smelled divine.

Heero was practically chomping at the bit, trying to get me to say what was on my mind, but he let me hand him his cup and open the top of the honey before he snapped.

"Well?"

I squirted a liberal dollop of honey into the tea and sighed. "Trowa and I didn't fight."

"Then what _happened?_" he pressed. His fingers rolled around the cup, but he didn't drink. He was waiting.

"So you remember Greaves coming and talking to me?" I asked, taking a drink now while I could. Before Heero started strangling me.

I had expected the sharp clutching of the tea, but I hadn't expected the guarded, Perfect Soldier look that entered his eyes. "Yes."

Okay, so maybe things would be a little worse than I'd expected. "Okay, so remember how I said he didn't tell me anything?"

"Just get it out, Duo."

Oh, shit was he pissed. "Okay." I took a deep breath. "So he actually _had_ told me something, only I didn't tell you. Or Wufei, or Quatre."

Heero was deadly silent for a short moment, and I watched that Perfect Soldier come out into the open. "What?"

Because _what_ was more important than _why_ on the battlefield.

"Heero, I'm going to explain _everything._ So please... stop looking at me like that?"

Heero seemed confused for a moment, as if what I was saying had to filter through something. "Explain, then."

Okay. The Perfect Soldier had cracked, but not all that much. He was probably worried sick, which he would consider a weakness that might get the two of us in danger. I took another breath. "We aren't in danger. Or at least, what I did today won't bring danger here."

"Duo-"

"_Fine_." I drank again and stared pointedly at Heero's cup. He ignored the glance. "So Greaves told me about one of the five that he'd managed to find, and I called Trowa because the man ate Asians and... and I..." But I kind of petered out, oddly intimidated by the look. But I'd found the immunity to it long ago, and with a small, almost soundless whimper, I whipped on the Jester mask. "I happened to remember that you're a Japanese guy, and I'd heard rumors that Japan was in Asia, which" I faked a shocked gasp, "doesn't that make you an Asian?"

Heero's eyes narrowed. "Duo, are you telling me that you went out to meet a cannibal without me because you were concerned about my safety?"

"Yeah, I guess it could be said like that. He's in a mental ward, if that matters."

"It doesn't."

"Didn't think so."

That Perfect Soldier mask, despite what many thought, did _not_ make Heero unfortunate-looking. It didn't look right, of course – the laughter and the smiles were a billion times better – but Heero still looked damned _hot_, even as the Perfect Soldier. His eyes were glassier, but the dark cobalt was still stunning, and in a more dangerous way than when he was content or happy. His wild hair looked windswept, even though I could tell, on close inspection, that it was simply due to his habit of running his hands through it. His angular looks had pushed him even more firmly on the dangerous side of good-looking, and in the end the dead, get-close-and-die look painfully suited him. Just as, I suppose, the goofy Jester suited _me_.

"What happened?"

So I gave Heero a rundown, crazy hand gestures and all, and cracked as many jokes as possible. Heero didn't even smile for one of them.

It was after I'd given him the entire story, from beginning to end (including the milkshakes) that Heero finally _moved_. He was up from his chair in no time, his hands carefully loose, ready to grab or fight or hurt as needed. He came over to stand over me.

"Are you _stupid?"_ I cried, jumping up from my seat, mask forgotten. Heero shouldn't be standing, the dumbass, but when the Perfect Soldier was in charge, pain didn't even register for the man. "Get the hell off your feet, Heero, before-" I reacted on instinct, stepping back and moving my hand up to block, but the only reason I didn't fall ass-first was because Heero had stopped his punch mid-air.

"Okay, um, Heero, can you not? I'd rather not get punched by you again."

At the word _again_, Heero physically flinched. "Duo," he sighed, and his hand dropped. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's good. Just get back in your damn wheelchair." I stood up straight again.

"No."

"Heero-"

"You went behind my back and jumped into danger simply because I'm too weak right now to properly care for myself. I'm not returning to the wheelchair."

"Okay, so you'll make yourself even weaker?" I grabbed his trembling fist and entwined our fingers. "Yes, I went out on a limb to protect you. I distinctly remember you doing something equally annoying with me once or twice. And you know, I called Trowa and he _agreed_ with me to keep it secret. Okay? We both kept it secret, because both of the ones we love are Asians. If you knew you had to meet a cannibal who liked Americans, you would've locked me up somewhere to keep me from going with you. So get back in your damn wheelchair, okay?"

Heero glared at me, but his eyes were softening again and he just sighed again and sat back down. "Duo, dammit..."

"I know, I know. I pissed you off, I got it. I'd be beyond furious. But at the same time, I needed to make sure the cannibal didn't see you, because the bastard sure as fuck _remembered_ you. Remember how I said he jumped at me? Remember? What if you'd _been_ there? Jesus, I don't want to even think about it."

"Duo-"

"We assessed the threat, and he's holed up in that building pretty damn well. That's one more down, all right? We're starting to get there, and Greaves is helping, and if there hadn't been any damn Asian fetish I would have told you."

Heero gave me a sharp glance there, but he saw my sincerity and dropped his head in his hands. "I understand."

I sighed a hard breath of relief. "All righty then."

"I'm still pissed."

"I would be, too. I would be so damn furious I wouldn't be able to see straight."

"Duo, I knew that you and Trowa might get into a fight, but I didn't know I might _lose_ you." His head fell into his hands as he thought, most likely picturing the what-ifs.

Okay, yeah, _that_ one I could empathize with. "Heero, I'm sorry." I didn't know what else I could say to that one.

"I'll deal with it." He looked like he was dealing with it by getting ready to lecture me again.

"Heero, please don't. I'm really sorry, okay? I'd already known that you would be pissed. I'd known that I was doing something that you would hate. But-"

"I said I understand," he said.

There wasn't anything else I could do. I raked a hand through my bangs and cursed the damn world for giving me so many damn problems. And now that I was done talking to Heero, I was so damn tired I felt like I'd been drugged. Heero was still cradling his head in his hands, and I knew I should probably stay with him, but I headed out to the living room and laid down on the sofa and in an instant I was dead asleep.

* * *

"Duo. Duo, please wake up; I can't carry you with this damn clavicle of mine."

I moaned and rolled over. "No. Don't wanna."

"Duo, I can't lift you!"

"Mm-hm."

"Duo!"

My eyes snapped open and I jumped up into a sitting position, just barely missing Heero's head. I turned to him blearily. "Heero?"

It was dark out, the curtains drawn, the door, I checked, bolted and latched. Heero, I saw with relief, was giving me a cocked-headed smirk. "Good morning."

"Isn't it nighttime?"

"It's one o'clock. I let you sleep for a while – I'd hoped it might help you – but it's really, really late, and I can't-"

"Mm. Uh, yeah. Sorry." I scratched at the nape of my neck. Heero looked much calmer than before, though his hair was even messier. "So... we okay?"

"Okay enough. You're right; I would have chained you back if it had been the other way around, broken clavicle or no."

I chuckled a little uneasily. I would like to think I'd be able to beat him if it had come to a full-fledged fight, but even if I did fight seriously, I couldn't say for certain that I would be able to win. If Heero wanted to win, he could become oblivious to any sort of pain, and then how could I win? The bastard could blow himself up and survive, for Christ's sake. I mean, what the hell?

So Heero and I went upstairs, Heero choosing to walk up instead of hopping up, and I let him, understanding the need to be strong. Right now, he was probably feeling his weakness like never before.

I went into my room and listened to Heero as he made his way to his. His steps were strong. I had no doubt that Heero was healing faster than a normal person, and he would only try to hurry the time it took even more. There was nothing I could do about it, since I'd been the one to instigate it. "Shit," I breathed, and closed my door.

"Took you forever."

I froze, then moved, quick as lightning, onto the floor and rolled.

"Calm down, Strike. It's me."

The words were unnecessary; immediately after beginning to defend, I had recognized the voice. I growled as I pivoted onto my feet. "Greaves. What the hell are you doing? How did you get in here?"

"I'm a cyborg, remember?" The man smiled grimly from his place on my bed. "I can do many things. Along with hide my presence from you. It was a modification I'd used before, back when I'd been targeting you."

"Uh-huh. So what're you doing here?" I moved over to the dresser and opened a drawer, pretending to grab my pajamas.

"You went to see Carn. It probably wasn't a good idea."

"No shit? I'm gonna have nightmares about him for days." I grabbed out the PJ's anyway, just in case Heero was listening closely. Greaves and I were carefully keeping our voices down, but I was wondering if I should have been raising my voice anyway, or at least arguing for Heero to be in the room with us. But I left it for now. Greaves obviously had something to tell me.

"They'll be coming for real, most likely. He'd been giving up his quest for freedom, but now that Carn has smelled Quatre Raberba Winner and Heero Yuy on Trowa Barton's and your skins, his efforts have been renewed. By morning, he'll most likely be free."

I frowned, ready to argue, but then I remembered those worn areas I'd seen before and paused. He may very well be right. And dammit, but I'd forgotten to ask Heero about J.

There was no time for that. "If that's true, I need to get over to Harperville _now_."

"That would be best. Would you like company?"

I hesitated. "Could you-" I looked to the wall beside me, my heart thumping unevenly. "Heero-"

"He's already angry with you."

"No shit? I need to get in touch with Trowa." I was already moving. "Heero's probably listening to me right now, hearing me move around like this. Go talk to him? Apologize for me?"

Greaves sighed. "I could be the one to take care of Carn."

I hesitated again. That thought hadn't even entered my mind. Would that work? Greaves was certainly capable, and though I would hate the wait, wouldn't it be better for _me_ to be here with Heero? "Why didn't you go take care of it instead of coming to see me, then?"

"Honestly? To see what you would do."

"What I would...?" It was a test? "Dammit, Greaves." I clenched my eyes shut, paced. Heero would be coming in soon; I didn't have the time to think about it!

In the end, my decision was based solely on how I thought Heero would react. "Greaves... could you..."

The man smiled. "Of course. I'll take care of Carn. You stay here with your family."

"Greaves. Thank you."

The words were mine, but a much deeper inflection echoed them. I froze again. The pajamas fell from my limp grasp.

Heero entered the room, deliberately walking straight and true. "You are Greaves, then."

"Yes. I suppose I should apologize, both for not meeting you and for the damages I had incurred both to your house and to Strike."

"That would be a good start, yes." Heero stopped beside me and crossed his arms. And waited.

"Heero-"

"Enough. I'm pissed enough that you didn't immediately contact me when you found out he'd arrived."

"I'd been considering it," I said.

"But you _didn't_."

"I should go." Greaves stood gracefully from the bed and tapped his forehead in a lazy salute. "It was a pleasure, Heero Yuy. You have a very strong lover. You should be proud of the love he has for you."

I blushed furiously as he lazily opened up the window and dropped boredly to the ground. My jaw dropped before I remembered the whole _cyborg_ part of the deal.

"Dammit, Duo-"

"Heero, please, I'm already freaking out." I had a rush of adrenaline that didn't know what to do with itself. I wanted to be out there fighting, driving like a madman to reach the institute before psycho Carn was out of his room, but instead I was stuck on protection duty. I clenched my eyes shut for a short second, then got busy. First things first: I had a couple of phone calls to make.

"So what were you asking Carn to do? I can only guess that you wanted him to do it so you didn't leave my side. Does it have anything to do with Carn?" Heero was a constant, nagging presence by my side, even down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Yes, it's about Carn. Greaves says he might get loose."

"Might?"

"Well he can't read the future, now can he?" I raked a hand through my bangs and huffed out a sharp breath. "Sorry, that wasn't necessary. Get in your damn wheelchair, Heero Yuy. I need you able to move if something happens."

Heero stopped his argument short when he heard me say that. "He's that dangerous?" he asked, leaving my side for a short moment to do as told. I snatched the phone and followed him. It was terrifying to not have him in sight.

"Hell, yes, he is." I punched in the quick dial for Trowa. "He's psychotic and obsessed and he said he'd eaten someone before. 'Despite the taste,' he'd said. Do you know how J lost his arm?"

"Yes," Heero said easily, and I could already tell the answer from his voice. "I watched a man eat it once, a couple of years or so before Operation M."

When the man had been replaced by Quatre, no doubt. "That would be Carn."

"Hn."

I wasn't thrilled about the return of the monosyllables, but it meant Heero was readying himself for battle, which was good. And he was in his wheelchair, which was even better. "All right. Trowa? Hey, thank God. Where's Quatre? Good; don't let him out of your sight. Greaves has contacted me; Carn might be breaking loose soon. How should I know?" I listened to Trowa's angry demand for explanations and rubbed the bridge of my nose. "I don't know, all right? I suggest you and Qat come over here; I can't move Heero very quickly. I'll get a hold of Wufei."

There was no time for pleasantries. Trowa gave me a quick "fine" and hung up.

"I swear to God, that man's gonna hate me all over again." I dialed for Wufei and went back up to Heero's room and mine, grabbing both of our guns and coming straight back down. Wufei wasn't answering. "Shit, shit, shit!"

I thought hard, then dialed Sally Po's number. I couldn't be sure, but I could swear Wufei had a relationship with the woman. I'd made sure to get her number when I'd started working for Preventors. "Sally?"

"Duo Maxwell? What the fuck – do you know what _time_ it is?"

"Where's Wufei? Do you know?"

The woman was instantly more aware, her voice no longer groggy. "He left about two hours ago, said he was going to go out and think for a bit. Why? Wait – how did you know that we were-"

"Because you go goo-goo when you talk about him and he can't look me in the eyes when I mention you. Do you know where he goes to think?"

"There's a meadow off the edge of Level Park that has some wildflowers; he goes there most often. And what do you mean he can't look into your eyes? And _why_-"

"He's embarrassed, I think, because he blushes, which is hilarious. Where's Level Park?"

A quick spurt of directions told me he was a good fifteen minutes away. "Fuck. Okay; got it. There's a problem, but we'll be getting it taken care of, so sit tight. Best thing you can do is be ready for another call with some doctor's provisions, 'kay?"

She didn't hesitate. "Got it. Make sure you're all alive, got it, Maxwell?"

I swear, the woman was fantastic. "On it, ma'am."

"Damn straight."

"Well?" Heero asked. His brows were drawn together with worry.

"I can't get a hold of him; Sally says he's most likely at Level Park."

"Sally?"

"Oh, come on, Heero. I told you I'd spoken to Sally my first day, remember?"

"Yes. And then you'd followed it up with the 'weird vibes' from Wufei. I'd blown it off."

"Teach you." I double-checked my gun despite the fact that Heero'd done the same while I'd spoken. "Where the hell is Trowa?" I hissed, but the bell rang just as I finished my sentence.

"Duo, get the damn door!"

"Coming!" I snapped open the door and let Quatre and Trowa into the house. Trowa looked furious, but Quatre was calm.

"Status?" the blond asked, already taking over.

"Heero's obviously not that maneuverable, and I have to go fetch Wufei."

"What?" Heero hissed.

I bent down and kissed him quickly on the lips. "He's after Asians, Heero," I murmured. "I _have_ to get Wufei out of danger. I'll be back with him as soon as possible. Greaves is already heading toward the institute; with luck this'll blow over without a fight. Quatre, Trowa, you guys all set?"

"We're good. Get Wufei and rendezvous with us here," Quatre said quietly.

"Quatre!" Heero snapped.

"He's right; we need Wufei. He doesn't even know there's danger out there. Do you know where he is?"

"Sally Po says he's most likely at Level Park."

"Probably," Quatre said lowly, nodding.

Trowa blinked. "Sally Po?"

"Oh, for the love of – Quatre, thank you for not being oblivious. You two – work on your social skills. I'm heading out."

"Dammit – dammit, Duo, _be careful!_"

"Idiot. Aren't you forgetting?" I winked back to him as I headed for the door. "I have some serious incentive for coming back."

Heero's eyes weren't the Perfect Soldier's as I hurried out of the house, but that of a desperate man. I felt an equally terrifying rip along the seams of my chest; I was leaving Heero to help a friend, but I was nonetheless leaving him. What if...?

But I simply jumped into my car and revved the engine to shit. The car skidded for a moment before finding purchase on the pavement and I was out of there.


	6. Breathe

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing? Sure, it's mine. And also you're stupid.

* * *

Sub Rosa

Chapter Six

Breathe

* * *

The silence of the car was painful, but I couldn't turn on the radio. If I did, I would need battle music to be able to stay focused and alert, and there was no known station for battle music. Random hard rock and metal just didn't cut it for me.

Wufei would be at the meadow at Level Park _if_ he was even at the park at all. If he wasn't there, I had no idea where to look next. I had nothing on me but my gun and my cell, which had thankfully been left in my pants. I didn't have my license, but I was speeding and I didn't give a shit. Worse to worst, I would simply call Une and have her verify my existence. The woman would be pissed, but I didn't really care at that point.

I felt a little sick, thinking about what could go wrong. Had this happened because Trowa and I had gone to visit Carn, just as Greaves said? Or would it have happened anyway? Well, it was no point worrying about _that_; we _had_ gone to see Carn and there was nothing to be done about it now. We just had to deal with the consequences.

And I had to find Wufei _now_.

I rolled down a window and let the cold night air slap against my cheek and whip my bangs into my face. I was close now, only a few minutes more and I would be at the park. The speedometer was pushing into the triple digits, even as I reached the residential streets, and with practiced ease I swerved and fishtailed through them. The adrenaline was pumping so damn fast my foot itched to smash the gas pedal even harder.

In no time I was out of the car, hardly waiting to grab the keys before racing out, following the directions Sally had given me toward the left of the park, past the soccer field and toward what looked to be a large hill, one with spruce trees freckling the landscape. I could see a bit of what would probably be brilliant color in the daylight. Was that a person's shape, or was I making myself see things?

But as I got closer I knew it was real; I would recognize Wufei anywhere, and that was definitely him. He was standing, back straight, staring hard at the flowers at his feet. His posture said he wasn't happy. "Wufei! Danger!"

Wufei had only begun to turn to me when he reacted on instinct to the call, crunching flat onto the ground. Wide eyes stared at me from atop the hill.

I raced up fast as I could and ducked down with him. "We need to get back to the car."

"What's happening, Maxwell?"

The man wasn't in uniform, which meant he most likely didn't have his gun. "Come with me. Is your gun in your car?" And we started immediately downhill, sprinting back the way I came, eyes alert.

"No." He sounded frustrated by that fact. "Maxwell?"

"I'll explain on the way back, okay? And don't get pissed with me, because Heero's already reamed me out and dammit, Trowa agreed with me."

"_Barton_ agreed with you?"

"Oh, ha ha." It didn't take as long to return, simply because I had a second pair of eyes to watch out for me. Once we were back in the car, I told him the basics about Carn. I was getting tired of talking about him.

Wufei hissed in a breath and started doing something weird, twisting his arms and his neck. I recognized it as a prone-position warm-up. "So much for a nice, relaxing weekend."

"Well, at least you had your time with Sally."

"Maxwell," he growled, his wrist twisted in the wrong direction, "I already told you that-"

"Dude, how do you think I found you?"

He just hissed and said no more, content to glare out the side window, his eyes scanning the cars behind us. It was dark as all hell, but I caught the blush. I grinned like the Cheshire Cat.

"Maxwell, I swear. What is it about us Gundam pilots that attracts trouble? Especially you."

"Thanks, Wufei," I muttered, Cheshire Cat grin dimming at that one. "That one makes me feel all kinds of better."

"You're most welcome, Maxwell."

* * *

So we all sat like idiots throughout the night, each of us taking watch, only to get a message at five in the morning from Greaves, his voice disgustingly chipper.

"I've taken care of the problem, Strike."

I'd never been so pleased and so pissed at the same time before. It was rather interesting to see the same looks on the others, but Wufei and Heero looked absolutely livid, and both looked ready to place the entire blame on me.

"Maxwell, I would like a full report on this disaster, please?"

I latched onto Wufei, seeing that he had more patience than Heero, and explained, as I'd started roughly to do on the drive over, the facts about Carn, including Greaves' little speech on how Trowa and I had fueled the man's fire.

Trowa, hearing that for the first time, cursed resoundly. "So it's our fault?" he hissed.

"I don't know. He was certainly attempting escape before we arrived. Fucking hell; I need to know just what the hell Greaves did."

"And the other two?" Quatre said, his voice low. "You said this man was responsible for J's lost limb, right, Heero?"

Heero nodded, his eyes on me, never wavering, the anger still there. I glanced over to him with a bit of trepidation, wondering if he was merely biding his time until everything was settled and the others were gone.

We'd spread out in the living room, Heero and myself over by the entrance from the kitchen, while Wufei had the entrance. Trowa and Quatre were manning the windows, scanning past them every once in a while. Even after the call from Greaves, they were still tense. None of them had _done_ anything. They couldn't trust that the danger was over.

"If these men are all after our lives in some way, then we absolutely _must_ find the other two."

"We already got yours and mine," I said, turning to him. "We don't know who the other one had been altered by. Maybe it was Heero's or Wufei's?"

"And why wouldn't it be mine?" Trowa asked, looking more amused than anything else.

"Maybe because you're not that outspoken. Or maybe that's just the vibe I get."

"Good grief. 'Vibe'?" Trowa shook his head, but his eyes still searched through the darkness. Dawn was on its way in, but the dark, for now, still held its claws on the sky. Duo sighed and clicked the safety on his gun before shoving it down his pants. Heero yelled at him, but he moved into the kitchen nonetheless and grabbed the phone, hitting star-six-nine.

"Yes, Trowa," he called in belated answer. "Vibe."

"Ah, it took you sixteen minutes to trust me enough to leave your safety net?" Greaves said as greeting.

"Apparently. I wasn't in the mood to count." I looked back; the others were following me into the kitchen, none of them sure enough yet to put down their weapons. I rolled my eyes and put Greaves on speaker. "Okay, buddy, we need confirmation."

The 'we' gave him the warning that everyone was listening in, and when he spoke, I could tell he'd caught the hint. "I didn't kill him; apparently I didn't have to. He'd almost busted through the place, but he'd ended up beating himself up to do it. The man was even more insane than we imagined, if you can attempt to consider that as a possibility. When I arrived, I just had to beat him unconscious and the doctors drugged him and moved him into a different room. Not quite as fortified, but they were willing to keep him drugged up."

"Were? I thought you said you didn't kill him."

"I said I didn't have to. He was so furious about being moved and starting from scratch – and apparently also about getting cooked meat again – that he lost it and ate his own limbs."

Oh, fucking _ew_.

I clapped a hand over my mouth and quickly put down the phone. I didn't bother looking around at the faces surrounding me; I already knew they would be just as horrified and disgusted as me.

"The doctors didn't even know for a while; one had gone in to re-drug him and found the man bled out on the floor. Ironic, really. If he'd just waited, that foolish doctor would have been eaten and Carn would be loose."

That was an irony I didn't even want to consider. "Thank you, Greaves. I owe you even more."

The man downright snorted, a loud, staticky hiss over the line. "I'm simply paying back my own debts, Strike. I'll get in contact with you again later – I suppose I should speak to your lover, too?"

I blushed at that. "That'd be preferable. He's already pissed enough with me."

"Ah. Then he's not taking my advice."

The man hung up before I could yell at him. He'd most likely gotten my ass into even deeper shit, but when I'd hung up the phone and turned around, there was that strange considering look on Heero's face again, and I could only hope that it meant I was safe.

"So that's it? That's Greaves?" Wufei sounded a bit skeptical. "He'd given us a hard time those months ago. I understand that you consider him a friend, Maxwell, but can he really be trusted?"

I completely understood why Wufei was asking the question, and it was well-founded. We'd been the only ones we could count on during the war, and we'd stayed a tight-knit group. The only ones I trusted with my life were in this room. Still, I had to admit that I felt I could trust Greaves. It _had_ to be because the man was so much like Heero and Wufei meshed together – I felt like he was someone I already knew, someone with Wufei's honor and Heero's loyalty and drive.

To make Wufei get just how I felt on the matter, I was bluntly honest. "The man's target is Heero. I wouldn't leave his safety to anyone but those I had complete faith in."

It seemed enough to appease them, and that was good. If I had to say anything more, my face would most likely combust.

"Very well, then," Quatre spoke up, and he, like myself, put away his gun. "Duo, Trowa and I will drop Wufei off. Thank you for calling us all together."

"I'm sorry." I had to say it, considering. My eyes flashed down to the floor for a moment before I pulled them back up again and looked into Quatre's eyes. "I'm really sorry you all got called into something you shouldn't have."

"We'd be pissed if you didn't." I looked at Wufei, surprised.

"Duo," Heero sighed, and he was standing again, dammit. The warm hand on my shoulder, though, was too comforting to be rolled away. "It's more important that we're all safe."

That was true, probably. It was certainly how _I_ felt about the whole thing. So I just sighed again and covered Heero's hand with my own. "The danger's over, at least for now. Where should you be?" I teased.

Heero growled.

"He's right, Heero," Quatre said quietly. "If Greaves continues to find our predecessors, we all need to be prepared. Heero, that means you need to recover as quickly as possible, which can only be done in your wheelchair. Duo."

I was the one everyone was circled around still, even though we were all turned to Quatre. I felt a little hemmed in; everyone turned to look at me when Quatre said my name. "Yeah?"

"If you hear or need _anything_, you contact one of us. I'm glad you called Trowa, that you thought enough to allow us to help you. I don't want you trying anything on your own."

The man was looking straight at my eyes, his sincerity plain. I smiled for him and clapped him on the shoulder. "Quatre, I'm done being emo. I know I only hurt you guys with it, thinking about myself and not considering things carefully. I called Trowa because it was an intelligent decision. I don't want to give Tro or Wufei another chance to call me an idiot." I mock glared at the two offenders.

Wufei just shrugged and smirked.

"Yeah, watch it, pal. I see Sally on a regular basis now."

The man blushed fit to burst. I cackled.

After that, there were good-byes and promises to get in touch the second anything changed, and I in turn promised to tell all of them everything the next time Greaves contacted me. Us. I grinned at Heero, the warning glare still smoldering.

"Well," I said, when they were officially gone, "I think our dinner's cold."

"I'll nuke it," Heero muttered, and he wheeled himself over to the table. The food was probably like ice. I felt bad; Heero's hard work had been ruined.

Then it was a silent meal and an awkward clean-up, the both of us carefully moving around each other. It was ridiculous, really. I'd gotten Heero's forgiveness, and Greaves had solved the mess before it became another catastrophe. All of this was good. Any more apologies would be meaningless, and any more yelling would be moot. So why the hell were we acting so damn weird around each other?

I placed the last plate in the dishwasher and washed my hands, wondering. Heero had thrown away the last of the trash and was now tossing the spare food in the fridge. Dinner duties were over. I opened my mouth to speak, to break the damn annoying wall we'd built somehow, when Heero beat me to the punch.

"Duo, this is stupid."

I cocked my head to the side. "Us not talking?" I guessed, grinning. I turned off the tap and dried my hands off.

"That, too."

Too?

On a smooth motion, Heero gracefully stood from his wheelchair and came to stand in front of me. I opened my mouth to reprimand him and met with a cool finger on my lips. I blinked. Fire was an automatic ignition, burning through my veins before I could think to stop the reaction. My thoughts on Heero's injury puffed out.

And my mind just fucking melted when Heero wordlessly bent down and captured my lips with his.

His hands were already moving down my chest to my waist and then to my hips, his fingers curling around and pulling me forward, until our bodies were meshed together. My hands were more gentle more wary, concerned about his injury, but still I grabbed his shoulders, his hair, and it was I who leaned into his chest and ground our hips together. We both pulled back from the kiss, gasping and grinding all at once.

I leaned one hand back and grabbed the sink behind me, even as our hips pumped into each other. My head fell back, exposing my throat, and with a growl Heero devoured.

"This," I managed, "wasn't even on my mind. For once."

Heero chuckled. "It was on mine," he whispered huskily, and I shivered as his breath brushed my skin.

"Not fair," I muttered. "You're injured; we can't – not the first time."

Heero huffed. "Romantic? You?"

"Shut the fuck up."

He laughed then, the sound I reveled in. "Or not."

His teeth bit down on the artery in my throat, just enough to send sharp jolts through me. I hissed and backed up until the sink was digging into my back. "Heero, I mean it – dammit – I can't _think_ with you-"

"Good." And Heero trailed down to my collarbone, one hand moving up tug at my shirt.

"Heero-" Why in five flaming hells was I trying to stop this? It felt so damn good, the pleasure rocketing into me, over and over. "Heero." My resistance was fucking _gone_, and Heero could hear it in my voice. He growled again, this time in victory.

"Ah. It appears I'm interrupting something."

Heero pulled away from me, his gun in hand before I could reach for my own. I stopped mid-grab and blinked hazily over toward the back door. "God_damn_ it, Greaves!"

"I thought you said you wanted to wait?" the man asked innocently. And smirked.

"_Fuck!_ How long have you been standing there?!" I shouted, quickly pushing away from the sink, my cheeks practically flaking my skin off my face from its heat. Heero looked about ready to shoot the man. He looked pissed – kind've like a man interrupted mis-sex.

_Fuck_, I was flushing like a girl.

Greaves, of course, just looked amused at the entire situation. "I was actually about to leave when you said you should wait. Your first time? You haven't already-"

Heero's finger pressed dangerously hard on the trigger.

Greaves lifted his hands in surrender, but that smirk only grew. "I understand – it's a sensitive subject. I only came to speak to Strike."

"And me," Heero hissed.

"Certainly. Should you be in your wheelchair?"

Heero bared his teeth. He didn't trust Greaves, it was plain. He was most likely remembering his first "encounter" with the man, when he'd left me almost dead and had destroyed a fair share of Heero's house. Or maybe Heero was just pissed about Greaves' teasing. Either way, his eyes were Perfect Soldier, and there was no way I was getting him to sit the fuck down while he was this battle-ready.

"It would be best," I said with a sigh, "if you just spit it out, Greaves."

"Of course. Do you want my report?"

"Do I need one?" I stood a little straighter.

"Not really. Just thought I'd ask."

"Why did you come?" Heero demanded, his voice ice-cold and dead monotone.

"Hm." Greaves' eyes assessed Heero then, sizing him up and testing the waters of his gaze. "I wanted to speak to Strike about the fourth and fifth, and about Caribol."

"What about Caribol?" I stepped forward, trying to get closer to Greaves, but Heero quickly blocked my path. I sent him a dirty look. "Really, Heero?"

He didn't respond.

"Though you've taken down the group, I believe their comrade, whom Zechs Merquise took down, may have been planning something."

This was not news I wanted. "Like what?"

"I cannot be certain, but I'm fairly sure your coworker may have an idea." Greaves cocked his head. "It most likely is nothing too dangerous, but Caribol was not the only group interested in making full use of the ex-Gundam pilots. I believe, though I may be incorrect, that at least one of the two of your predecessors may be found there."

"Merquise took down that enemy," Heero said.

"No. He fulfilled his obligation for Preventors and took down the major leaders. That's about it." Greaves shrugged. "The leaders are to be put on trial. Strike, I believe you, more than anyone, know how useful that is."

I clenched my teeth as Heero threw me a sharp look. It was true that I didn't trust the justice department to take care of problems, and it was just as true that I was usually right. These leaders most likely had money and connections and plenty of floozies to do as ordered. Though I hated to admit it, Greaves may very well have a point. "What is it that you think Zechs knows?" I demanded, asking the pertinent question.

"If I'm correct, Merquise knows their plans for you and your allies – your family." Heero's eyes flared at that, shock playing through that perfect facade of his. "I'll attempt to find more information."

"I can't go in tomorrow without raising suspicion, but I'll try to grab something from my end come Monday." I looked over to Heero and flashed him an annoyed look. "Could you move, please?"

Heero seemed to consider it for a minute before grudgingly stepping aside.

"Gee, thanks so much," I grumbled, but took the chance and stood before Greaves. "Thank you. For today, and for everything you're doing."

Greaves' face was dead serious. "I told you. I owe you."

There was something, I thought, that hinted at a bit more than just an obligation or duty, but I didn't push it. Instead I nodded and blocked Heero's aim with my body. I heard Heero snarl behind me, but I ignored it and waved Greaves off as he left, presumably the same way he came in. "Whatever ability he may have, I find it disturbing that he could just walk in here without us noticing, preoccupations or no."

"Duo."

"Hm?" I turned back to him and smiled. "Well, seems like we have more to worry about. So where should you be?"

Heero looked about ready to attack me. I took a careful step back, knowing exactly where a rough fight might lead – Heero injured, or us moving to the first available surface, followed immediately by Heero getting hurt.

"Come on." I pointed. "Wheelchair."

"We'll be talking about this more later," Heero warned, finally giving up and putting his gun away on his waistband before sitting in his seat.

"Talking, yes. Playing, no." Heero's deep gaze almost made me hesitate. "I mean it. Call me a romantic, I don't give a shit. We're both going to be healthy, without major, life-threatening troubles, when we make love."

My last words made something darken in those cobalt eyes, and a thrill raced straight to my groin.

"_No,"_ I said firmly, before I could give in, and marched decidedly from the room. After a moment, Heero followed from behind, not giving voice to complaints.

My lips thinned. The asshole was thinking about something, and I was pretty sure I wasn't going to like it.


	7. Learn the Hard Way

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing? Sure, it's mine. And also you're stupid.

* * *

Sub Rosa

Chapter 7

Learn The Hard Way

* * *

Sunday was spent cleaning and getting wash done. Our lunch consisted of leftovers, and our hours of cleaning were spent carefully avoiding one another. For me, it was totally self-defense. I knew damn well I didn't have the wherewithal to deny Heero and myself the release of sex if we started again, and I doubted I would have a fortuitous – yes, over time I could admit Greaves' interruption had been a good thing – encounter with someone. Therefore, I was on the run.

Heero, though... I could only guess that he was up to something. His eyes would seek me out, but he would stay to different rooms, and the noises I'd hear sometimes would be a bit weird. Loud, then soft, fast and slow. When Heero asked what music I wanted to listen to, my suspicions became full-blown alarm bells. But whenever I _randomly_ walked into the room Heero was in, he was simply straightening something or grabbing dirty clothes or putting the beds together.

He was up to something.

Dinnertime came before either of us knew it, and I decided to cook. Heero didn't argue, which was expected, but only because I knew he was doing something behind my back. Since he'd been injured, Heero had tried to do whatever he could, same as I had. It was a reflex, trying to take care of oneself, trying to show one wasn't vulnerable or useless. I understood it, so usually I gracefully bowed out if Heero wanted to take care of something. This time he didn't even come in to help when the smell of ham and pasta started wafting through the house.

Okay. I'd gone behind his back just the day before, so I didn't really have the right to freak out. Besides, I understood the whole idea of two people living different lives. I was cool with that.

But Heero was _up to something_. And it was driving me nuts.

When I called him for dinner, he wheeled himself in as if he'd been doing nothing of interest all day, but I could see a glimpse of the Perfect Soldier in Heero's eyes and knew he was using his mask to hide something from me.

But _what?_

We ate fairly quickly, Heero setting the fast pace. I made petty conversation, not really saying anything at all, but Heero was reticent and quiet and I was disturbed. I knew he'd forgiven me, or else he wouldn't have freakin' jumped me yesterday. But I also knew that whatever he was hiding, he was taking care to keep it from me. I thought about it. Was he planning something? My mind kept spinning to Caribol, stuttering and grinding to a painful halt. A part of me denied that Heero would do anything like he had before, but I couldn't be sure. He'd learned, hadn't he? He'd seen the mistake in doing what he'd done before – gods, my mind wouldn't even _name_ it – and he wouldn't do it again... would he?

I had to put my fork down when my hand started shaking so bad the food fell off.

Heero was practically done, but his blind shoveling in of food paused, and his eyes sought me out, confused and considering.

Okay, this was ridiculous. I was falling back on old fears, and I'd told myself I wouldn't do that anymore. It was probably something innocent – he was irritated with his helplessness, his collarbone still not completely healed. Maybe he just wanted some time to himself. Maybe he was trying to remember something. Maybe...

Maybe he was planning something I wouldn't like. Something like joining this ally of Caribol's.

"Duo?"

It was the first time Heero had spoken to me that day that didn't pertain to cleaning. I looked over to him and swallowed back my fears. They were stupid and inconsiderate. Heero wouldn't repeat his mistakes. The man hated making them the first time, after all. He wouldn't do it again.

Besides, I told myself, we didn't even have verification that anything was wrong. We had Greaves, who wasn't sure, and we had Merquise, whom I could easily admit I had a bias against. I expected him to be doing something devious, but that was because the man was always going to be firmly in the Evil Bad Guy List when it came to me.

"Sorry, Heero." I tried on a smile for him. "Just thinking."

I'd hardly picked up my fork when Heero asked, his voice soft, "what?"

Well, shit. That wasn't fair at all. How come I had to say what I was thinking, but Heero was going to bottle all of his thoughts away? But still I opened my mouth to answer, wondering how much to tell. "Just what Greaves said. I thought the whole Caribol thing was _over_."

"Technically, it is. This is a different group."

Heero's quick answer made my heart pound. He _couldn't_ be thinking about it. My next words were very precisely planned out. "Different group, but are there motives any different?"

"Maybe, maybe not. We'll have to find out."

And my heart jerked. Those words could be innocent. From anyone else, I would have believed they were completely innocent. But Heero didn't say anything randomly. His vocabulary was oftentimes much better than mine. I was scared. Heero was thinking about something, something to do with this problem Greaves had warned us about, and we had to do something about it.

Then I dropped my head into my hands. "I forgot to call the guys."

"It's fine. I did it today while we cleaned."

I smiled at him gratefully, even as my mind whirled. Had he really? Was that what had kept him out of my sight, why he'd let me cook? Or had he discussed something with them, just as I'd done with Trowa, and he was hiding a plan or a piece of information from me?

Okay, I had to knock this the fuck _off_. I had to trust Heero.

The image entered my thoughts again as I blinked, and I clenched my eyes shut. The image passed in slow motion, the smooth punch of the recoil, the warm gush of blood, those dead eyes staring at me in surprise.

I shoved myself away from the table and heard my chair clatter to the floor. I stared very, very hard at the plate in front of me, at the bits of ham still waiting for me. I didn't think I could eat it. I didn't think I could stand the smell for another minute.

"Duo?"

I shook my head violently. Heero wouldn't _do_ that, dammit! Whether he was planning something or not, he wouldn't do something that would cause the two of us so much pain ever again. He wouldn't be that stupid, that foolish, that cruel. All that fell into _my_ forte. Not his. My mind was playing with me, trying to confuse and scare me. It wasn't going to happen.

...Was it?

Heero was standing again, and I backed away from him, too, as he moved to grab my shoulders. "Sit down," I rasped. I had to get a hold of myself. This whole Caribol crap was spewing up the worst of the memories, the biggest fears. I had to go somewhere, get a better perspective.

Trowa.

I almost cried as the thought of the man entered my mind. That was it. I could talk to Trowa, and the man would beat the stupidity out of me until the stupid fucking memories were black and blue. "I – I'll..." I was going to clean up the mess, but I _couldn't_. I had to talk to Trowa, and I had to do it immediately. I didn't want to see it again. I couldn't stand to see it again.

I grabbed my chair and clumsily replaced it before stalking hurriedly from the room.

I didn't even bother to check and listen to what Heero was doing; I just snatched up the phone and speed-dialed Trowa's number.

Thankfully it was Trowa himself that answered; I didn't want to deal with the added guilt-trip of having to explain to Qat that, though he was a very dear friend whom I trusted with my life, I didn't want to fucking talk to him. Instead I got Trowa's easy, lounging voice, and I gasped out his name.

"Duo? What's wrong?"

His voice sounded concerned, and the surprise I felt at that was enough to give me the air I needed to speak.

"I need you to yell at me again."

Trowa didn't say anything, and I began to fear that I was asking too much from someone who wasn't technically back to being my friend. But then Trowa said simply, "okay. Shoot." And I realized he was simply making sure he was alone.

"Trowa, Heero said he'd called you."

"Yes, he did. He told us that Merquise's job may not be over?"

"Yeah, sure, that, too," I said breathlessly. "But the name Caribol came up, and now I can't get my fears to shut the fuck up."

"What do you mean?" Trowa asked, his voice blessedly calm.

I began pacing back and forth in the living room, then looked nervously toward the kitchen. I'd chosen to keep the vid-phone off subconsciously, and now I moved toward the bedroom, leaving the vid behind completely. "I – I know, logically, that it's stupid." Talking about it made me feel like an even bigger idiot. "I know Heero probably won't do it again, but he's been acting weird since last night, and I don't know what to do."

Trowa's silence was a bit more full this time. "You mean you're afraid he's going to go undercover again."

It wasn't a question, and there was something weird in the back of Trowa's voice, but I couldn't be bothered to give a fuck. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm scared of that. I'm terrified of that, and I know it's absolutely fucking _stupid_ but I can't-"

"Duo, end your damn sentence."

"Help it," I muttered. I closed the bedroom door and sat down on the bed. Trowa was considering something on his end, and I didn't know that it was something I wanted to hear. But it would probably be something I _needed_ to hear."

"Duo, did you know that you aren't the only one to ask me for advice today?" Trowa asked.

"I'm not asking for advice, per se, just maybe some verbal abuse." Then I thought about what it was he was saying and gasped. "Are you fucking kidding me? Heero's talked to you?"

"Yes. And I can assure you that you're both fucking stupid."

I blinked. "Um – okay?"

"Duo, the best advice I can give you is to go and talk to Heero about this."

"About me remembering Caribol and thinking that he might do something he and I both know he would never fucking do?" Sounded like suicide to me.

"Yes. Talk to him, Duo." And Trowa's voice softened. "You might just be surprised about what's said, and what you discover."

Well, he wasn't being as much of a help as I'd hoped he would be, but at least his confidence was starting to rub off. "Thanks, Trowa. I'll do that." Even though I thought it would lead to my death.

"Good. And don't worry – Heero's far too worried himself to bite your head off. For now."

Well, thanks so much for the assurance, Barton. But I just sighed and thanked him again. "Sorry to bother you again."

"Any time you need someone to get your head out of your ass for you, you can count on me."

I thought of Wufei's smarmy comment yesterday in the car and grimaced. "You guys all have warm fuzzies for me, don't you?"

"A million of them. Good evening, Duo."

"Evening."

* * *

Heero was still in the kitchen when I came out, hanging up the phone guiltily. He was struggling with the dishes and his wheels, looking absolutely furious and about ready to hang the damn contraption again.

"Hey, Heero."

I was standing stupidly in the doorway, my hands reaching for the end of my braid instinctively. Heero swerved in his chair, his eyes not even flickering in pain as he stretched his healing collarbone. I quickly stepped out, saving his body the stress. "Duo." I could see worry and concern in his gaze, but my breath hissed in at the fear.

That was right. Heero had spoken to Trowa, too. That meant he was afraid of something, just like me.

I took a deep breath. "So, I think I have something I need to talk to you about."

The fear flashed to outright panic, but Heero simply nodded and looked irritably at the plates in his lap.

Wordlessly I took them and threw them in the sink, not caring about the clanging. Then I wheeled Heero back to the table and sat him down. "First, I'm sorry. I was being ridiculous earlier. And I should have spoken to you about this immediately instead of freaking out on my own."

The words seemed to cut through that look in Heero's eyes, and he cocked his head, considering. "'This'?" he asked.

"Yeah." I dropped down into the chair opposite him, the one I'd banged to the floor earlier. The table wasn't clean yet, but Heero had gotten the leftovers put away, and most of the dishes had been sent to the dishwasher. I should have been doing clean-up, not Heero, but panic attacks never chose convenient times to occur. "It's about yesterday, about Greaves."

Heero tensed when I said it was about yesterday, but he seemed confused when I brought up Greaves. I couldn't quite guess what the fuck he was worried about, but I would pull that one out later. For now, I had to ask him about this. Trowa may have sounded confident, but he wasn't here now. I was on my own for courage. So I pulled out my stubborn streak and cracked it like a whip onto my face.

"I want to hear you tell me you won't do anything stupid, like with Caribol."

Heero seemed shocked speechless by this exclamation.

"Look, I know it's not going to happen," I confessed, though a thrill of worry shimmered up my spine, wondering if I was wrong in that, that Heero really _was_ planning to do something... the picture flashed before my eyes, and I closed them, trying to garner some control. Something stupid. I took a deep breath. "I trust you, I really do. It's just... I can't make the damn memories go away. I just need a quick reminder that you aren't retarded, and then I'll be okay."

I looked him dead-on, knowing that I was being pulled all over the damn place, my emotions going absolutely haywire. Fear that I was right, anger and myself for not having more faith. Worry, concern, annoyance – I added a quick, "sorry to make you say it again."

Something in Heero's eyes cleared at that, and he sagged in his wheelchair, almost as if I'd physically cut his tension with scissors. "It's fine," he sighed, and he looked so damn relieved that I didn't think there was room in him for annoyance. "I promise to answer truthfully as long as you answer _my_ questions truthfully."

I blinked. Well, that didn't sound necessarily promising. "Yeah, okay."

Heero could hear the trepidation in my voice, since it was apparent as all hell. He ran a hand through his hair and looked down at the table, his face contorting slightly as he tried to figure out how to start.

"First," he said, and his eyes raised up to my face again, "I will never do anything like what I did with Caribol ever again, so long as I live. The guilt you and I have suffered through has been far too great. And the images won't leave _me_, either – the panic I'd felt, trapped in that damn bed while you were off... doing something stupid, yourself."

I nodded, feeling like an ass.

"Duo, I'll never do anything to deliberately hurt you, and I know that would. You don't need to worry about that. We'll fight together this time. I swear it."

The words were exactly what I needed to hear, and I smiled as those stupid, illogical fears were finally doused. "Thank you."

But here Heero hesitated, and before I could stop him, he stood. I was getting damn tired of that penchant of his. But when I stood to drag his ass, back down, he held up a hand and looked at me with a wary glance. It made me freeze part-way up, back still bent, lips caught on a breath.

"I am not a cyborg," he said quietly, "but I cannot escape the fact that J had given me enough drugs to... enhance me a bit."

I sort of understood, though I had no idea where Heero was going with this. I felt the need to stand, as well, if only to be on equal footing. I carefully scanned Heero's face for any signs of pain, but there were none. "Same," I told him, my voice questing, trying to find just what it is Heero was trying to communicate. "Immunities to poisons and other drugs, things such as that. Unless given a lethal dose of truth serum, I would still be in enough faculty of my senses to-"

"That's not what I meant."

Heero's voice was getting firmer and firmer, angrier and angrier. "Do you remember when I self-destructed my Gundam, that time when the colonies were targeted?"

How could I possibly forget? "Yeah."

"I should have died." I flinched, but Heero was too busy raking that hand through his hair again and turning away to pace. I watched the sudden, jerky movements with apprehension. If I tried to stop him from moving, Heero was frustrated enough to act on instinct. And the only instinct he and I had was a soldier's instinct. "But I didn't. I woke up from a self-induced sleep with relatively minor injuries. How?"

I didn't know, had wondered about it myself. But Heero seemed to know, and he appeared furious about the information.

"It's because of the drugs J had given me. They aren't anything _bad_. Apparently," Heero scoffed, "he'd practiced them on others to ensure their safety. But then he'd given them to _me_. Have you ever watched an old show called X-Men?"

Mutely I nodded, my eyes growing wider as I tried to understand what Heero was telling me.

"I feel like the Wolverine, though that's not quite it. He had the ability to heal at a radical pace. Mine isn't as ridiculous as his – of course not, that would be absolutely absurd – but it's good enough." He stopped his pacing suddenly and glared at me, almost seeming to et angrier as he saw the confused, shocked look I wore. "I can only presume he'd given the drugs to my predecessor, whoever that would be, and then gave them to me. I was with J from a fairly early age, perhaps around nine or ten. He had plenty of time to realize my predecessor's use as a guinea pig."

My brain struggled to catch what Heero was telling me. "So you're saying you're... meta-human?"

Heero snorted. "Nothing so insane as that. I'm merely telling you that my body is equipped with greater defenses and offenses – slightly greater strength, slightly greater speed. Slightly greater recovery rates."

My eyes fastened to his collarbone. "You aren't healed yet," I said, my voice both questioning and accusatory.

"No. But I'm close enough. The bone, I believe, has sealed."

"But you were feeling pain," I argued, my mind rushing to try to come to terms with the fact that Heero might be in much better shape than I'd given him credit for. "And you've stayed in the wheelchair – sporadically, but-"

"And now danger's here, and I have a decision to make." Heero took a deep breath, same as I had, and the glare he shot me was purely defensive. "Help you with the potential threats to your life, or risk everything by telling you the truth."

I thought back, remembering how Heero had flown from the height of his wrecked Gundam, coming out unscathed in just a couple of months. I remembered being told that there were metal bars vlocking off Heero's attempt to override the self-destruct sequence of the misiles on the military compound we'd been lured to, and remembered how Heero had managed to turn off the damn thing, anyway. My mind skipped to Zero, which Heero had somehow managed to master, and found myself almost believing what Heero was telling me. "How?" I asked finally. "How did you survive?"

"I don't know. The days during which I was injected with drug after drug... they're a bit hazy now."

Heero looked like he was getting ready to be sent to the gallows, and his almost-defeated look made me take stock. "You're healing faster than the doctor said, then. How far along?"

"Usually I perform at one hundred thirty percent more efficiency."

That sounded like a fucking quote. My eyes narrowed. "So instead of the couple of months of rest you were ordered for, you would need a bit less than a month and a half. But it's only been about a third of that, so you still shouldn't-"

"The doctor was going off the belief that I'd been healing at ninety to one hundred percent efficiency. Duo, this isn't what I wanted to ask you."

"You mean do I give a rat's ass about what that fucking bastard did to you?" I didn't let him answer, knowing instinctively that he was waiting to be labeled a freak, waiting for me to turn away. "It's true that I thought it weird that you could do all that shit. I freaked out when you blew your ass up, because I knew that no normal person could survive that."

Heero winced at the word 'normal.'

"But none of us are normal," I persisted, "and if I said I hated who you were, then I'd have to say I hate that you're alive. And that's something I could _never_ say." I snatched at him and pulled his face down until his eyes were so damn close I had a hard time focusing on them. "I love you. I think the fact that my stupid fucking head can't get through to my stupid fucking heart would prove that. And it's embarrassing as _hell_ to say that." I was flushed a bright, interesting red, I was sure. Hopefully Heero couldn't focus well, either. "The only reason I even considered harming you when you were with Caribol was because I thought – I thought you were gone."

Heero hitched in a quick breath, and I realized that Heero hadn't known that, that he'd wondered what I would have done if he truly _were_ a cyborg. The fingers on Heero's cheeks trembled a bit as I considered that. No wonder Heero had wondered if we could continue together. "As long as you're in there, Heero," I told him, "I wouldn't care if you were a human computer, or a ghost. _I love you_."

And I dragged Heero's lips to mine and crushed them beneath my conviction.

Heero's hands wrapped around my waist, forcing me closer, until our bodies clung to one another. It started the fire, wrapped it tightly in a coil around my groin, and on a gasp I pushed away.

"You bastard," I hissed, "you're healed enough!"

Heero nodded slowly, wondering where I was going with this.

I thought of what I'd said last night and the agony I'd gone through, my body pulsing so damn hard it had been hard to fucking _breathe_. "You're all right," I managed again, then cursed resoundly. Heero flinched. "_Fuck!"_ I said again. "Why the fuck did I say we should stop?!"

It didn't seem to be quite what Heero had expected to hear, and after a few short moments of confusion, his face contorted into a dark smirk. "Want to finish where we left off?"

"Now that we're both done being fucking special?" I growled. "Fuck, yes."

I reached for him, had just touched his skin, when a voice interrupted.

Sorry," Greaves said, popping through the back door, his face dead serious. "This time it truly is an accident."


	8. Feelin' Way Too Damn Good

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing? Sure, it's mine. And also you're stupid.

* * *

Sub Rosa

Chapter 8

Feelin' Way Too Damn Good

* * *

I brushed it off, but really, as I stood there wishing Greaves would drop dead, my mind flickered wildly between worry and fury and a deep, almost bitter confusion.

Drugs to enhance the human body. Perfected? Could such a thing ever be perfected? Certainly they didn't seem to have harmed Heero in any way, but were they doing something we couldn't see yet? Would we learn in another year, or five, that Heero's days were numbered? Would his mind slip, either into deficiency or into insanity? How much longer did I have with him?

And J. Damn that man. Damn him into the deepest pits of hell, he'd used Heero even more than I'd guessed. Heero wasn't a guinea pig! He wasn't a toy or a puppet or a robot, and sometimes the end didn't justify the means. Wanting to win the war wasn't enough to put Heero's life in jeopardy.

But other than these two dominant feelings, the rest of me seemed to still need a few hours to process the information. Heero seemed to normal, so human, and his touched were so gentle. Still, I could recall the flat punch of Heero's fist in my gut when he'd tricked me into punching him. I could recall the steady hands, the quick reactions, the impossible aim.

And a tiny, vindictive part of me was screaming, _I knew it! I knew it!_ And was pleased that I wasn't as comparatively weak as I'd thought. Heero's had an extra card in his hand the entire time.

But Greaves' appearance, so soon after his last, was most definitely bad. While Heero and I had been cleaning the house and agonizing over our individual fears, Greaves had learned something. And it would be something we wouldn't want to hear.

"What is it?" Heero snapped, looking for all the world like he was about to start a fight with the man. I glared at him in warning. Mostly healed he may be – somehow – but I wasn't taking any chances. I very firmly remembered Heero hissing and shouting in pain, and I needed to know if those had been real or not first.

If he'd been pretending, then _I_ would beat the shit out of him.

"I'm afraid I've just confirmed what I'd spoken of earlier. And it's apparent that Merquise has at least become aware of the knowledge. I don't know how he's involved, but if nothing else, he's learned of the situation."

"What's their goal?" Heero demanded.

"Their goal is top secret," Greaves said quietly, his gold-brown eyes hard. I looked him over. He didn't seem to have any new wounds; all the scars I saw, I recognized from our fight. "They were caught by Preventors for the creation of weapons, but they were only helping Caribol with their plans. An exchange of sorts, I suppose, since Caribol was helping support Femorel financially. Technically, the group is in ruins."

"Technically. But what's their _goal_, Greaves? You said they wanted us Gundam pilots?" I pressed.

Greaves sat down in one of the chairs, and the move put me on red-alert. The man had quite a bit to tell us, and it would be something we wouldn't be thrilled to hear. I watched Heero as he assessed the man as well, and he seemed to come up with the same impression. His lips pulled back in a snarl.

"Heero Yuy, I found your predecessor."

Heero jerked back a bit. "How do you know he's mine?" he demanded. His eyes were glazing again, turning soldier even as I watched. Verifying facts, was he?"

"I didn't, not before I listened in to our conversation."

"Greaves!" I yelped, throwing a wide glance at him.

Heero's eyes narrowed. Was he going to strangle Greaves? I kind've wanted to, and he was _my_ friend. Friend? Yeah, sure. Friend.

"That was a private conversation, dammit," I snapped, glaring at the man and hoping my quick reaction would stop Heero from doing anything. "_Extremely_ private. You had no business listening in."

"Be that as it may, I've learned whose predecessor Femorel has through your conversation, and that, at least, is fairly good."

"Look, whether we're healed or not," I said, "I don't want _another_ battle. I've had more than enough. The past year and a half, I've been thrown into more dangerous situations than when I was a merc, and I can't afford to continue having these damn things interrupt my life."

Both Greaves and Heero seemed to want to assess me rather astutely then, but I just lifted my head and stared defiantly at both of them.

"I understand. You have your family to think about now. Femorel is the last remnant of Caribol that holds even the least threat of danger. It also has one more of your predecessors – Yuy's, as I said. I'm still searching for the last, but for now, Femorel is a vital target."

My fists clenched. I didn't want this to happen again. I was tired of fighting. Heero might be far more healed than I'd known, but he was still a good deal from being okay. And who wanted to go straight back into battle? We'd just gotten through the last one, dammit, and here we were being thrust into another immediately after. Harlow, Caribol, Troit. Now Femorel. How much more would we be forced to face?

"Where is Femorel? Tell me everything." Heero took over the conversation then. I'd forgotten how he'd been falling into Perfect Soldier mode. He wouldn't slug the person who had pertinent information. At least not until the information was given.

So Greaves told us about Femorel, about how the group had been charged by Merquise with the production and distribution of weapons. The information of Caribol must have been made available during that time, but the company attempted to keep its relationship with Caribol as seemingly minor as possible.

Apparently the company had joined with Caribol near the end of the war, breaking off from the military to do so. That could be where their interest in the Gundam pilots originated. They'd found Heero's predecessor, a man calling himself Luther, a few months after that, about a month and a half since the war ended. Greaves knew Femorel's plans included Luther and most likely Heero, if not all of us pilots. He just didn't know exactly how yet.

"I don't want to know," I muttered, but I know I had to find out and somehow stop our enemies before anything happened.

Gods, I was tired.

"Thank you," Heero said, and I looked over, both of us still standing by the sink, and I saw the soldier leaving. "Now I ask that you leave before I throw you out bodily."

Greaves grinned and simply readjusted himself in the chair. With Heero back to normal – funny how I thought of Perfect Soldier as abnormal now – I could see the barely restrained anger. I wondered if he'd felt it while he was hiding behind his mask, whether this was something that had simmered the entire time or whether the emotion had only seemed to hit him now, now that his mask had been once again tucked away.

"Didn't Strike say he didn't want any serious dangers looming in your future before you had sex?"

I blushed furiously and ducked my head down on instinct to try to hide it. Heero acted a bit more vocally, cursing the man. "I told you to leave. Do it. Now."

"I'll leave you to your arguing, then. Don't forget to check around tomorrow at work." Greaves idled up, graceful and negligent, and silently opened our back door, slipping out once more into the night.

I checked the clock on the wall and scowled. It had been a few hours; eight o'clock had come and gone, and now nine was inching its way closer. I glared at the back door. "We need to get older hinges."

Heero huffed out a laugh, but he still seemed a little pissed. He glared out, searching, before letting the tension in his shoulders fade. "Seems like he's truly left this time."

I managed to open my mouth before he started speaking, cutting me off without looking away from the window. "He's said it twice now, calling us other Gundam pilots your family. What did he mean?"

I blushed again and hoped it didn't show in the reflection. "It goes back to our fight, I think. I told him I had reasons why I had to win."

Heero's lips pursed and his eyes narrowed. I went and locked the door to escape the reflected stare. "Us."

"You, mostly."

"Because I'm your angel."

I froze. Heero had never brought up those poems I'd written after the Caribol mess, but I could still remember them, one at the beginning and one at the end. I left the room.

"Duo!"

"Sofa," I called back, and heard Heero immediately following my steps. A small, tiny little headache was starting to thrum under my skull, and I knew it could easily become a full-blown migraine. Definitely a stress migraine. I grimaced at the thought and willed the damn thing away. I was a fucking Gundam pilot, for God's sake. I was probably around twenty years old. What was I doing with tension headaches already?

Heero grabbed my wrist as we made it into the living room. I turned to him, confused, and saw a steely, determined look in his eyes. We sat down on the sofa together, so close our hips touched. Only then did Heero let me go, as if he'd been assuring himself that he could have physical contact with me during the conversation if he so wished.

"I read all of the poems," Heero admitted to me then, officially starting off a talk I'd rather hoped to never have. "Including the dedication at the end, over and over again."

I looked through the window, to the street outside. There weren't many cars at this time of night, but house lights had been turned on, making a sort of runway down the asphalt.

"You wrote those with the intent of being dead after I read them, didn't you?"

It was a dumb question, since I'd written them in the hotel room shortly before drinking the strychnine, but I didn't say that. Instead I simply answered with a steady, "yeah."

"Which means you had no intention of discussing this with me."

"Nope."

Heero didn't seem too pleased with that. "Duo – look at me?"

I did, but very reluctantly.

"In that first poem, you wrote that you'd torn my wings. Do you remember that?"

I nodded mutely, knowing Heero wouldn't have been pleased to read that, especially knowing that I'd tried to kill myself afterwards.

"Do you still believe I'm some sort of angel?"

I hadn't quite expected _that_ to be his main focus, but it kind've made sense. "Sorta," I answered, shrugging. I saw Heero flinch at that and hurried to explain a bit more. "Not that you're some sort of peaceful, always-kind sort of thing, but that..." I struggled to explain. "Not in a girly way, but you're beautiful, and you're strong, and you're able to rise back up from anything. I always envied you during the war, your drive, your surety that you were doing the right thing, walking the right path." I shrugged. "Angels are really abstract. Everyone has different opinions on what they are, what they look like, what they do. But everyone agrees that they're beautiful, and that they're good. That's how I see you."

Heero seemed rather surprised by that. "So much thought for one word," he muttered.

"Hey! It's an important word! Sister Helen constantly spoke about angels – said I was hers." I snorted at that one, at how ridiculous it was. I remembered, back then, telling her I was definitely no angel – not beautiful, and certainly not good. I remembered how sadly she'd smiled then.

"The last poem – you called me an angel again."

I shuffled uncomfortably. "Yeah. Hey, I was really upset then, Heero, and-"

"Shut up. It's what you were thinking right before – before you..." His teeth clenched. "Before you tried to kill yourself."

It was the first time Heero'd been able to address it so baldly, and I jumped to hear it, but Heero bulldozed along.

"You said – said I was angel, said I didn't know how _pure_ I was."

I remembered that line, too; _The purest angel / In all the world / Trapped within his mind_. Yeah, I knew. "Pure can mean sinless, but it derives from the Latin word _purus_, which means clean, clear, unmixed, or chaste. And _that_ word comes from the base _peu_ or _pu_, which means to purify or cleanse."

Heero blinked again, rather stunned.

I blushed. "So I know you aren't guiltless, duh, but you're exactly who you are, and I love every part of you, including the man from the war. And you certainly purified and cleansed the world, considering your efforts to destroy Libra saved the world and made it possible for peace to exist. I don't know that you're chaste – well, you had sex with Wufei, so that's out – but your emotions are clear and bright-"

"Okay, I got it." Heero sighed. "You didn't take the word lightly."

"It was about you," I pointed out, as if that should explain it all. To me, I guess it did.

"He sparkles white?" he asked, referring to the last line of the poem.

"Don't you?" I asked, and finally I couldn't take looking him in the eye anymore and glared down at the sofa seat.

"Do I?" Heero seemed confused by the very idea of it, and he sat back, thinking about it.

"Only someone who's suffered," I said, "can shine."

Heero was silent for a time, considering that one. "Then you're brighter than a diamond."

I snorted. "That sounds girly."

"And wanting to wait to have sex? That isn't girly?"

I felt my face flame. "Shut up."

Heero laughed, apparently appeased by my answers. "Do you want me to change your mind?" he asked then, and his voice lowered interestingly.

My body told me its answer much faster than my brain. "Um, we probably shouldn't. Greaves could be here-"

"He isn't. And if he is, he can damn well leave. Now."

He said that as if he were stating the warning to the man himself. Just in case? There was no way I was having sex with a potential audience. "And you aren't fully healed, because you'd been gasping just a couple of days ago, and-"

"Duo, my collarbone is healed. And I wasn't hurting, I was just tired. Why the hell do you think I slept for a month after destroying Wing?"

"Because you'd taken a ridiculous amount of damage?" I asked, but I had a feeling Heero was winning. "And don't we have enemies? Shouldn't we call the guys? And I have to go to work tomorrow-"

"Duo, if you don't want to do it, you only have to say so."

Heero sounded a bit hurt, and I hurriedly spoke to erase his fears. "It's not about you being enhanced, Heero. It's..." I couldn't explain, though, because I had no idea just what the hell was stopping me. I slumped a bit and grabbed Heero's hands, trying to show in action how unafraid of him I was. "I don't even know. I'm..." Dammit, but I hated this word, "afraid."

Heero frowned. "Of making love?" His hands tightened on mine. "You said you were an orphan on the streets. Did..."

I shook my head violently and clenched his hands in return. "Nothing so heinous." At least, never all the way. But I didn't want to tell him that. "It's nothing as easily explained as that."

"Then what?"

My lips thinned as I realized just what the hell was wrong with me. "Son of a bitch," I murmured, twisting it in my head until I could see every facet of the fear. I cocked my head. "It's nothing." And I smiled. Because it really was nothing.

"Duo," Heero warned.

"No, really, Heero. It really is nothing. It's a stupid fear." And I stood, invigorated by that knowledge. "What time is it?"

I stretched as Heero stood beside me and answered. "It's slipped past nine."

"Then there's enough time." I stepped into Heero's surprised arms and traced my fingers up his chest. I looked up through my eyelids and grinned. "I don't have to worry about sleep for a while yet."

Heero swallowed rather deeply. "Duo, tell me."

I sighed. Of course this wouldn't be so damn easy. I'd asked for it, after all. "I'm afraid something's going to change. Well, obviously something is, but..."

"You mean our relationship."

It wasn't a question, but nonetheless I felt obligated to answer. "Yeah." I traced a little circular pattern on Heero's shirt. "Pretty much."

This time Heero was the one to sigh, but his arms encircled me as he did. "Duo, you idiot. You always overanalyze everything."

I snorted. "Bullshit, Yuy. That's _your_ job."

"Fine. Both of us are guilty." Heero wasn't all that much taller than me, only about an inch or two, but it gave him the leverage needed to nuzzle my forehead. "Duo, do you truly want to do this? Right now?"

I hummed, but even I didn't know if I was saying yes or no. "The fear's pretty dumb, so I can ignore it without a problem. But..."

"You're worried about me, and about Femorel."

"Stop ESP-ing my words, Yuy," I grumbled. He chuckled for me.

It was apparent that both of us were uncomfortable, though I was much less than Heero. I dipped my hands lower, across his abdomen, and felt his muscles jump. Even if I was afraid to go that full way, into the deepest parts of that realm of sex, even though I was afraid of walking the path that couldn't be unwalked, I could at least bring Heero some release.

Finally my hands lowered, playing over Heero's jeans, and the man gasped, jolting back. His hips bucked toward me instinctively. I grinned and leaned down.

"Duo – Duo, stop." Heero grabbed my hair and tugged it back before I could really get started. "Together or not at all," he managed to hiss.

"Sure," I said, grinning. "But you first."

His fingers shivered, and with a groan he gave up and let me go. "Promise," he hissed, even as I gripped his hips and led him to the nearest wall.

My fingers tucked under his pants and tugged, forcing the button free. "Promise," I whispered, my breath hushing over his skin. He shivered. I chuckled as I unzipped his jeans. "You know, this is the first time I've gotten the chance to answer this question."

"Question?"

Heero sounded like he couldn't possibly care less about questions or conversation whatsoever. My grin turned a little more feral. "Boxers or briefs?"

Heero choked out a laugh. "Shut the fuck up."

"Sure thing."

* * *

I woke up Monday completely content.

Beyond content.

We hadn't gone what some might call _all the way_, but we'd gone far enough to spike into bliss enough times. Once I'd touched Heero's skin, I'd wanted to keep touching until the end of time. Until eternity bled out of existence.

But our relationship will definitely have changed.

I closed my eyes, afraid to look over toward Heero, afraid to know _how_ the relationship had changed. I had a feeling that the only thing that had really changed on _my_ part was a serious increase in the burning desire I had for him, and maybe the added respect of his body, one I hadn't been able to appreciate as much as I could now.

But I didn't want to think about how his opinion of me might have changed. I wasn't girly enough to freak out about my looks; I was confident, at least, that I was well built, that other than the scars littering my body, I was fine physically.

But I was still nervous, and I couldn't quite put my finger on why.

I slid out of the bed, and at once Heero was awake. I turned to watch, but he was still as he'd been during the war, instantly awake. "Duo? Is it time to go to work?"

I blinked. "It is for me, but I think you should stay here."

Heero wasn't pleased with this, but it was an intelligent tactical choice, and was most likely one of the many reasons he'd been hiding his secret from me. I couldn't be angry about it, since I'd have done the same to him if our situations had been reversed. Besides. It was karma for Trowa and my secret.

I leaned down and kissed him lightly on the mouth. "I'll find out what's going on with Zechs so we can get this damn thing over with."

Heero nodded, but his eyes were showing all kinds of worried. "Be careful."

"Of course."

Heero gave me a disbelieving look, but I just grinned and left him for the bathroom. In all honesty, I _would_ be careful, but I wanted this over with so I could enjoy my damn future with Heero. I was tired of all this crap. I just wanted our lives to be normal.

And after this, dammit all to hell, they would be.


	9. In Front Of Me

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing? Sure, it's mine. And also you're stupid.

* * *

Note: Okay, I want to explain this, because a lot of people noticed the lack of detail during the oral sex thing. So it's a little awkward writing that scene in first person, okay? I apologize. *bows* I'm going to try to work harder and make sure the actual, full-on sex scene, whenever it occurs, has, you know, an actual scene. *bows again* Sorry!

Extra Note: Yes, I know the updates have gone from random to sluggish to practically nonexistent. I don't want to complain about my workload, so I'll just let you know that it's gone through the roof, and it's not over yet. Finals are now officially upon me. I'm sorry about this. Please be patient for just a little longer. *bows _again_*

* * *

Sub Rosa

Chapter 9

In Front Of Me

* * *

Zechs, when I finally got some time off to go catch a moment with him, was leaning rather sardonically on the counter in the waiting room, holding a Styrofoam cup of coffee and looking for all the world like he'd been waiting for my arrival.

I, note please, am not a huge coffee fan. I never wanted to have a crutch, something I would need in order to wake up in the morning. Because of that, I never really got into the whole coffee gig, and I think Heero stays away from it for the same reason.

So I skipped past the coffee and went for the tea, not because I was thirsty but because I wanted an excuse to be in the room, even though subtlety in conversation wasn't precisely my strong point. I guess, taking that into account, it wasn't surprising that Zechs the Magnificent caught on to what I was doing.

"Might as well say it."

I didn't really freak out in any way, just poured the hot water into my own cup and grabbed a tea bag. "I probably shouldn't call a coworker an asstard."

"Probably not."

"So I suppose a question would be better."

"Perhaps." Zechs took a sip of his coffee.

"Did you know you're an asstard?"

He snorted into his cup. "I was unaware."

I finished dipping my tea bag and tossed it in the trash. "Well, at least now you're informed."

"I see. And this is what you came to bother me about?"

I shifted until I was leaning against the counter, too, and then shrugged. "No, actually. I came because you're hiding info from the psycho lady, and I don't wanna get caught in the explosion when it's found out."

"'Psycho lady'?"

"Damn straight. Crazy bitch." I took a deep, gulping rush of tea, then placed it beside me and gripped the counter. Hard. If I didn't, I would punch the slimy bastard's face in. That probably wouldn't go well with the psycho lady. "So maybe you should stop hiding shit. Just what is it that you want to tell me about Femorel?"

But the man just took another sip of his coffee and negligently sat it down, as well, before leaning off the counter and heading for the door. "Nothing."

"Fine, then." I moved quickly, dodging around him and blocking his exit. The room, I had noted my first day here, only had one door in and out. It was another reason why I didn't come in here all that much. "How about you tell me everything you _don't_ want to say?"

Zechs stopped in front of me, and his eyes seemed to be gaging something – my worth, maybe, or perhaps just my physical abilities. A part of me was begging for a fight, but the rest of me knew that I needed information more than anything else.

"Meet me again after hours," he said finally, his lips curving upwards. "I have a few questions for you, as well."

"I'm not the one holding back information from intel," I snapped. "I don't owe you an answer for anything."

"You might think twice about that."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

But Zechs just moved right on past me, pushing me with his shoulder. It was either move or fight, and though my fists clenched hard enough to leave marks in my flesh, I let him go.

Meet him after hours? Well, at least then there would be no chance for interference – just in case I _did_ choose to beat the holy hell out of him.

* * *

"Maxwell."

I turned; Wufei was coming into the room, his eyes searching out my office. "What the hell have you done to this room?"

"Fixed it," I told him, grinning. I'd read the rules on office space, and so long as my space is clean and my wires straight, I could do what I wanted. So I kind've reorganized the bare walls into poster boards. I'd only put up five so far – apparently, Wufei already thought that was too many. "What's up?"

"Is that a picture of Hannibal Lecter?"

"Smart guy, right?" I scooted my chair back and stood. "Wufei, what's up?"

"You spoke with Merquise, correct?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Greaves warned me he knows more than he's saying. He said to meet up with him after hours. You know – around now."

Wufei nodded, but he seemed distracted by my Hannibal poster. His sharp, dark eyes glanced over the others. "Sweeney Todd _and_ – is that Maleficent?"

"Yeah, I thought gender equality would do the room some good."

"Do you have _any_ posters of good guys?"

I shrugged. "The good guys are boring. Why do you ask about Zechs?"

Wufei rocked back on his heels, fisted his hands in his Preventors' outfit pockets and scowled. "I want to go with you to speak with him again."

"Got any questions in particular?"

Wufei was silent for a moment, but then he nodded and said tightly, "his secret. The one he'd held with Khushrenada. I can't think of another reason why he would fight to keep something secret from Une."

I frowned, too. "You mean the idea that he and Treize worked together to act as the baddies, right? To show what _could_ happen if people kept fighting."

"That's right. It was the reason Zechs sent the Libra to crash on Earth."

"Right, right." Didn't change the fact that he was an ass. What if he'd succeeded? What if Heero hadn't been able to stop the Libra's fall? Worse, just the idea of putting Heero in that position... the man simply wanted Heero dead. I scowled deeply. "What about it?"

"I don't think Une was aware of their plan. If she was, her job was simply to clean up afterwards – to create the Preventors."

"So, what? Femorel has something to do with the end of the war?"

"That's what I think."

I huffed out a breath and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Great. When will all this shit be over?"

"Hopefully? After this." Wufei glared at the posters. "What do you think Yuy will say to your decorating job?"

"He'll be suitably horrified. Come on; I'm heading to the break room to see if Zechs is there yet." I scooted out of my chair and took a minute to stick my tongue out at the papers still waiting for me on my desk.

"Mature, Maxwell." Wufei followed me out the door, politely shutting it behind us.

"I try."

"Try harder."

I stuck my tongue out at him, too, for good measure. "Don't wanna." The break room wasn't far of from my office, nor was it from Heero's or Wufei's – apparently we were important enough to need easy access to coffee – but that also meant that _he_ had easy access, as well.

He had tea this time when we entered, leaning once more on the counter.

"Here or somewhere more private?" he asked, then looked over to Wufei. His eyes shifted a bit, from playfulness to... wariness? It wasn't respect, it wasn't concern. Just annoyance with his existence. Like he felt about Wufei how I felt about him. "You're joining him, then."

He said it as if I needed back-up against him. My fists clenched.

"Yes. I have a few questions of my own for you."

Wufei saved it then; he'd officially stated that he wasn't back-up. We just had the intention of ganging up on Zechs.

"There's a room hardly used here – let's go there."

We wouldn't argue privacy, so we all traipsed through the halls, watching as several others moved in the opposite direction of us; their shifts were over, and they were finding the nearest exit. Our destination was definitely a rarely-used room, but it was one I recognized, and it made me stop for a millisecond. We were headed to the cassette player room – the one in which I had listened to Carn's message to me.

Zechs was the one to open the door, since Wufei and I refused to show our backs to him. He simply snorted and twisted the knob, leading us inside.

Gods, he was a bastard.

The room hadn't changed for shit in the short period of time since I'd entered, and I immediately took residence in the area I was most comfortable; of course, it didn't hurt that the cassette player was to the direct left of the door. Wufei stood beside me while Zechs went by the compact disk player on the right of the room.

"Well?" he asked.

"Don't 'well' us." I threw myself straight into the conversation. "Femorel. You're hiding shit, and we wanna know what."

"'Wanna'?" he mimicked.

Oh my God, let me punch him. _Let me punch him._

"Merquise. Answer."

But Zechs had no intention of making this easy. He leaned against the wall by the disk player and crossed his arms. His ankles were left deliberately _un_crossed. Just in case. "How about an information exchange, 02?"

I _snarled_. "I told you, assfuck, I don't owe you or anyone answers to anything. Unlike _you_."

"Assfuck? I thought I was an asstard?"

"You're both," I hissed.

Wufei stuck a restraining hand on my chest and stood closer, until he was vaguely in front of me. "Merquise. The situation is not one that can be handled alone in the shadows."

I was surprised to see Zechs' smirk falter. "What do you know?" he asked, ton light. His arm muscles clenched.

I was all for taking the bastard on, but Wufei's arm in front of me didn't waver. "This is about Treize, isn't it?"

I was left watching the two like a fool. They seemed almost like a freakin' Western, with them in the middle of a damn duel, both about to draw. Or maybe they were just skinny, good-looking sumo wrestlers, judging up the competition before shouting out that "doskoi" or whatever and charging. And I was like the moron who had stepped in the middle of their path.

"Femorel is not your business," Zechs said, finally responding to Wufei's question.

"We're getting that damn information," I snapped, but Wufei still didn't let me fucking step forward. I glared at him, too, just to let him know he was pissing me off.

"Is Femorel something the two of you left behind? Or something you forgot to clean up?"

Zechs showed his teeth, and if it was supposed to be a grin, it failed miserably.

"It's the former, then," Wufei said, and though Zechs reacted in surprise as if he'd hit the nail on the head, I personally had no idea how he'd figured that out. I certainly hadn't seen that answer on Zechs' face.

"Oz left something like _this_ behind?" I turned from Wufei to Zechs. After all, dammit, I was much more pissed at him than Wufei.

"You know nothing." Zechs stood. "Don't make assumptions."

"We wouldn't have to if your dumb ass would just _tell_ us." Wufei's hand didn't move, but this time I just stepped away from it and went around. "Femorel is _your_ mistake, but they're coming after _us_. And you're standing here like you're superior-"

"Enough. You won't get any information from me."

"Then why the fuck did you come here?!" My short nails were biting into my palms enough for me to bleed.

"I wanted to know about you and Yuy."

I snapped back like I'd been shot. Wufei immediately stood in front of me again. "And if you feel your mistakes are not worth airing," Wufei said, and his voice was helluva low, that soft tone that he'd used during the war to let me know he was two seconds away from killing my ass, "Maxwell's relationship with Yuy is most certainly not something worth explaining to someone not worth their time."

Oh, shit. Wufei just _burned_ him.

Zechs looked furious for a moment, but then his eyes cleared and he smiled. "I would be careful."

"I don't give a fuck what _you_ would do, you lazy hack job," I snapped. "Your stupid fucking ass left _that_ alone for _years_. And _now_ look what you've-"

"They want something you have," Zechs told me, cutting me off _again_, singeing my last nerve to its tiniest thread, "and they'll take it from you, make no mistake."

_Heero_.

I flew at him. "You bastard! What the fuck do you know?!" I swung at him, but of course he dodged. I maneuvered around the damn player, following him, sweeping a foot through the air toward his throat. He jumped to the side and grabbed for my ankle, almost catching it. I pulled it back just in time, then threw it back out again before it touched the floor. This time he _did_ catch it.

"You aren't as good as him," Zechs told me, smirking.

"_Bastard!_" I wrenched my leg free with pure strength and swung for a backfist. My braid obscured his vision, and the backfist connected straight onto his left cheek. I planted my feet forward and swung my other fist to finish what I'd started.

"Maxwell! Stop!"

I did on instinct, following my comrade's orders. My fist paused a breath from Zechs' cut cheek.

Zechs punched me in the gut.

It was like Heero's punch all over again; I felt the wind suck out of my body, watched stars dance. Wufei screamed out my name.

Then as I gasped for breath and fought against the darkness Heero had managed to send me into instantly (ha, take that; Heero was stronger), Zechs' hand chopped at my neck and I was down.

* * *

"Maxwell?"

_No_.

I knew that if I woke up, there would be a definite amount of pain involved. I wanted nothing of it.

"Maxwell, you have to get up."

Nope. Most definitely _no_.

It almost seemed like Wufei hesitated before talking to me again. "If you don't, I'll call Yuy. I'll tell him that Zechs beat you up."

For a very short instant, that sounded fucking sweet. I imagined it in that split instant, the quiet, calm opening of the door as Heero entered Zechs' office as if it were just a random visit, and then as he walked unhurriedly over to the man's desk... and then how he would strangle the fucking life out of him.

Oh, yeah, I could go for that.

And then I heard the tell-tale beep of a number being pressed on a phone and suddenly I remembered why that would be _bad_.

Zechs was a potential enemy, and Heero's wellness was a ball that we most definitely wanted in our court.

We needed to all be on our game, and squabbling with another Preventors agent, even if the man was an insufferable bastard who deserved the worst sort of torture – I think the worst torture ever inflicted was crucifixion, so maybe that – would be an unnecessary waste of time and resources. Unnecessary waste... yeah. Redundant.

And killing Zechs might potentially be a bad thing. Maybe.

Okay, maybe not, but the first two reasons were good.

Besides, I didn't want Heero to know that I'd gotten my ass handed to me. Again.

"Okay, okay, I'm up. Bastard."

Oh, yeah, there was pain. Lots and lots of pain. My neck felt like it'd had a blunt saw rubbing against the back of it, even with my braid to take some of the force. Had the fucker been trying to _break_ it? My neck, not my braid. And then there was my gut, which was throbbing with my heartbeat, just like my neck but in a deeper, all-around suck kind of way. At least I could breathe again.

I sat up and struggled to hold both my stomach and my neck at the same time. Wufei flipped his phone closed. I glared at it, then at the room. Seeing that Zechs had apparently made his exit, I turned my glare to Wufei.

"I'm sorry, Maxwell," he said, and he was definitely contrite; he looked ready to fiddle with his ponytail. "I just hadn't wanted to lose our chance for information, and – I hadn't gotten to you in time. I apologize." His eyes slid to the floor.

"It's fine," I grunted, rubbing the back of my neck. The coolness of my fingers felt really good against the heat of the injury. "I get it. That mother – he did it for a cheap shot."

"Most likely to get to Yuy," Wufei said softly.

I turned to him. "Get to him? How?"

"You know him – he wants to know which of them is stronger, but through the past years, Heero hasn't risen to the man's bait. Without the war, Heero has no reason to fight him. Zechs just can't let it go. He thinks he's become stronger through his travels after the war..."

"I _hate _him."

"Really? I hadn't noticed." Wufei rolled his eyes and stood, grabbing my hand to help me up. I took it, but I refused to fall into the pain in my stomach, even if it was ridiculously bad. The bastard hadn't held back at _all_.

"In any case," I sighed, "I guess knowing that it's an old Oz thing is good. Maybe Greaves can get something."

"Do you trust him?" Wufei asked.

"Definitely."

Wufei was silent for a time, and we took the chance to look over my outfit and fix the wrinkles so that Heero wouldn't notice when I got back to the house. "All right," he said finally.

"Thanks, 'Fei."

"If you want to thank me, say my name correctly."

"...'Fei."

He hissed at me, but all it did was make me laugh – though when I grunted in pain and clutched my stomach in clear regret, Wufei was the one to laugh until we made it outside Preventors HQ.

* * *

A/N: I feel like shit for making Duo lose to that bastard. ;_; Sorry, Duo. Sorry!


	10. Figured You Out

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing? Sure, it's mine. And also you're stupid.

Note: A quick thank you to Starember19, who apparently found one of my little Sub Rosa poems to be interesting enough to spawn one of her own. :) Thanks! And of course, to my beautiful reviewers, especially those of you who have followed me for so long, I bow to you all! You're the reason this story can continue!

* * *

Sub Rosa

Chapter Ten

Figured You Out

* * *

I could only be slightly thankful that that bastard had hit me in the back of the neck, where the bruise and the swelling would be more difficult to see. When I got back to the house, Heero was right there, practically on my ass. He wasn't in the wheelchair, but I guess he'd heard only my footsteps approaching.

"Duo." Heero came and kissed me, one quick smack on the lips. "Are you all right?"

My God, it was like the man had some sort of ESP thing going on. "Um, yeah? Why wouldn't I be?" I removed my gun and set it on the coffee table, not wanting it put away, where it would take a moment to grab. My stomach hurt like a bitch.

"You were late. It's ridiculous, but I got worried." He cocked his head to the side. "Are you hungry?"

"A bit." He just randomly got worried? Yeah, that's a creepy sort of ESP, all right. "How was your day?"

"Fine. Boring. Yours? What did you find out?"

I groaned. "Wufei went with me, and he confirmed something he'd been thinking." I went out to the kitchen, since Heero obviously had food plans. "Is Greaves here? Has he stopped by?"

"No and no. Why?"

"Because repetition is annoying." Heero was watching me strangely, and I was hard-pressed to walk normally with my still-stinging stomach. I looked around; the oven was on, and something was quietly simmering inside. "Shit, Heero, did you cook for me? Fuck; I'm sorry I'm late, I hadn't realized just how-"

But Heero just kissed me on the cheek. "No, it's fine. I just wanted it ready for whenever you got back. I know how much you love Zechs." He gave me that smile of his. "Now sit and spill."

"Fine, but we didn't get much. He didn't want to tell us anything. He was more interested in getting information from _us_." Not that I had any intention of telling Heero what. If Zechs was trying to get Heero to fight him, I would thwart his ass every chance I got. Heero hated fighting, for all his skill. Fighting for sport was something Heero detested.

Heero sighed, though, in a way that told me he understood the personality trait I was referencing. "And?"

"Well, Wufei had figured out that this whole thing is about the end of the war, and apparently, from what Wufei gleaned, it's something Treize and Zechs had started that they forgot to take care of afterwards."

Heero paused in taking out what I could now recognize as marinated chicken. "Like what?"

"Dunno."

"They have my double," Heero said, more talking to himself than to me. "Something they didn't clean up? We destroyed Libra..."

I tried to think about it, too, but my mind was a complete blank. "Look, all I can think of is White Fang. Those bastards crawled out of the woodwork like no one's business, suddenly sporting shittastic weaponry and shit, and there's Zechs, _again_, once more making our lives miserable..."

Heero chuckled and placed the chicken down. "'Shittastic?'"

"Yup." I grinned. "I mean, I know Zechs is rolling in the dough, what with the Peacecraft background, but that sort've machinery's hard to grab, you know? Maybe that's it?"

"I don't know. Quinze was a good leader."

"Meh." I got up. "What can I do to help?"

"Just hit start on the microwave, and the rice will be ready in five minutes."

I did as told and leaned with my back against the counter. "So they have you, and maybe the other. If we do have to attack, it'll be hard."

"First, we have to know what they're after."

"_They want something you have, and they'll take it from you, make no mistake."_

I rubbed my stomach absentmindedly. "Zechs had... a theory about that."

"A theory?" Heero grabbed two plates, and I got off of the counter to grab the utensils. Heero took a fork and speared two pieces of chicken, putting one on each plate.

"He said they want you."

I'd wanted Heero to hesitate, to question, but all he did was nod. "That's what I thought."

It wasn't fair to feel my heart drop to my already abused stomach.

"Heero?"

"It makes sense. I am the ultimate creation, the thing J struggled to create. It makes sense that they would want to run tests on me."

The microwave dinged, and I jumped into the air. For the first time in forever, my hand automatically went to my hip. Thank goodness I'd taken my gun off.

"Duo."

Heero caught my action – it wasn't something easily missed, especially by an ex-soldier – and paused in scooping out the rice. The spoon clanged against the rice bowl. Heero came up to me and grabbed my arms. "I won't get caught."

"I believe it was _you_ who constantly told me not to say-"

Heero leaned in and effectively shut me up.

It was warm, a warm kiss that calmed the flashing beat of my heart, and when Heero's arms wrapped around my back, I bucked my hips forward and pulled on Heero's shoulders, wanting more. His arms were strong and real, his tongue tasting of sauce – he'd been licking the marinara. It made me smile.

When he let go, I plopped my head on his shoulder and wrapped my arms around him. "I love you," I told him.

"I love you, too. I won't leave you."

My heart was starting to imitate a hummingbird's again. "I won't let them have you."

Our embrace tightened, both of us needing the other closer. "I won't get caught. I am, after all, the final product of the most extensive research on the human body ever completed."

I hummed. "And they got the important parts done right, too."

Heero choked. I pulled back in order to get a good look at the blush I knew to be staining his cheeks. I laughed at the sight of it. Heero pushed me playfully – right on my stomach.

I thank my training for this, because I managed to turn a double-over into mock agony, collapsing on the floor and curling into an only-half-joking ball of misery. Motherfucker, that hurt.

"Come on, Duo, you're going to get your hands dirty." Heero walked over me to put the dishes on the table.

"Agh, you've killed me."

Heero just laughed, thank God.

* * *

It was while we were cleaning up after dinner that Greaves showed up, knocking on the back door. I was so surprised I opened the door without giving him a hard time.

"Strike." Greaves nodded.

"Hey," I returned. "What took you so long?"

"You first." He looked at Heero, who was loading up the dishwasher. I'd been in the middle of putting the leftovers into containers. Greaves went over and snatched a piece of chicken. Heero snarled. "Mmm, this is good. So? What did you find?"

"It's something from the end of the war, something Zechs and Treize started but didn't finish."

Greaves nodded. "And that's all you got, right?"

"Yeah." Greaves sent me an 'eye message,' but I deliberately turned from it. "Anything on your end?"

"No."

Useful.

"I suppose we're out of information for now." Heero came over beside me and snapped the lid on the Tupperware containing the chicken, glaring heatedly at Greaves and the piece in his hand. "Have any plans?"

"Not especially." Greaves finished off the chicken and licked his fingers. "You know we'll have to go in. Attack them."

My damn heart was thundering. My injured gut was doing weird movements that only served to turn my pain into nausea. "Yeah."

"Well, then, let's get started on all of that, shall we?"

"Not without the others." I was putting my foot down on that one. "We need to get rounded up and work this through together." Greaves simply nodded. "Alrighty then. I wonder if everyone can just drop over?"

"If not, then they won't be planning," Heero said, and picked up the vid phone. "I'll take care of contacting everyone. You finish cleaning up before that fool eats everything we own."

I looked back at Greaves in time to see him steal a spoonful of rice. I snatched the spoon from his hands.

"The problem," Greaves said, seemingly unperturbed about having his utensil taken from him, "is that they obviously have plans outside of their old function. They have focused on helping Caribol, on creating weapons, and they have a strange interest in Yuy and his modifications."

"You mean they're planning something outside of their original purpose." Heero entered the conversation just in time to leave it. I heard him say hello to Trowa.

"That about sums it up, yes. That's most likely why you didn't get much information, Strike – I can't imagine the brilliant Zechs Merquise to be pleased with their delinquency."

I grunted. I couldn't imagine Zechs being pleased, period.

"That's right," Heero said. "Yes, I'm about to call Wufei."

"I take it this is important. Wufei just finished telling us about Oz's involvement in this."

"If not Oz, then most certainly Treize and Zechs." Heero looked over to me, as if simply hearing the name would be enough for me to blow my top. I had to stop myself from touching my stomach. If only Heero knew. He turned back to the screen when I just shrugged and scowled. "Greaves is here, and we would like to plan our next move."

"Well, at least Quatre and I are no longer living the boring corporate life," Trowa said drolly. "As soon as Quatre's out of the shower, I'll let him know."

"Thanks."

Heero hung up with Trowa and speed-dialed Wufei.

"More importantly," Greaves said, and I grabbed the containers and took them over to the fridge, "you should be careful, Strike."

I tossed the containers in beside the milk and closed the door. "For once, dude, they're not after me."

"No, but there's a link between Yuy and you, and I'm certain they will become aware of it."

Heero's voice cut off then, and I heard a hiss from the vid phone. I looked over. Heero hadn't turned from the phone, but his shoulders were straight and I thought I could see the form of a fist. I cleared my throat and ignored the pain in my neck and stomach, both of which chose this exact opportunity to throb. "Yeah, I'll just bet. But I'm not like those damsels in distress in the damn movies – I'm a fucking ex-Gundam pilot. They can come after me if they want; it'd be a dumbass move."

Heero's posture didn't loosen in the slightest. I had no doubt that anyone trying to use me to get to him would receive a fury worse than anything hell could come up with.

It was absolutely ridiculous and disgustingly girly, but it totally gave me a tingle inside. "Heero, the only time I won't be around you, I'll be at work, with lots and lots of people trained in the usage of guns."

"Yuy," I heard Wufei say, but he didn't say anything else.

"Come off it, Yuy," Greaves said then, most definitely pissing Heero off more, "did you really think Strike would be safe during this venture? Is he ever?"

It must've shocked him to laugh at that, because after he did, he tensed up even more. "No. I had already thought of the possibility."

Ah.

"Greaves, shoo for a minute." I waved my hand at him as if he were a dog, and though Greaves would normally have at it with me for doing it, he slipped out of the room with nothing more than a shrug and a smirk. "Hey, 'Fei? Be here soon, okay?"

Wufei snorted. "Of course, Maxwell. Be done by the time I get there?"

"Oh, you know us. We're skilled. We'll be finished in just a couple minutes."

"...Thank you for that, Maxwell."

"Welcome." I slid my hands around Heero's waist and snapped the vid phone closed. Then I snuggled. "You know, I don't give a fuck if they come after me. I love you." Seemed both of us were going to be needing some assurances tonight.

"Duo." Heero sighed. "You're always so eloquent."

"Oh, yeah. You should see me in bed."

It surprised another laugh out of him. He turned around in my arms and hugged me. "I'm sorry I'm putting you in danger."

"I can't count the number of times I've put you in danger, Heero." I looked into those cobalt eyes I loved so much. "And I don't care. I don't consider it a bad thing – to be with you, and thus be put in danger. And long as I get the former."

And Heero smiled at me. "That really was eloquent."

"Shut up." And this time _I_ kissed _him_.

Greaves popped in a few minutes later. "Oh, sorry, I didn't think you'd still be going."

I flipped him off and hooked a leg around Heero's waist.

"I'll just be waiting in the living room, then."

* * *

Long story short, we all came to the conclusion that the weekend would be the time to go, and that until then, we would try to learn what we could about the building. Greaves had volunteered for the bulk of that. Personally, I wanted to know where Greaves went and how much money he had.

Night had already drifted in by the time everyone had gathered, but it was morning by the time the meeting was over, and Heero was adamant that I get my sleep. (I'd also like to note, too, that no one took Heero's quick recovery as odd in any way, shape, or form. Talk about funny shit.) So Heero had shooed everyone out of the house and practically pushed me up the stairs. I didn't really think anything of it, because Heero was in the habit of being mother-hennish.

And then Heero made me stop as I made my way to my room. "Duo..." And Heero looked over to his room.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love Heero, I wanted to be with Heero, too, and I really didn't want to be alone after hearing that Femorel was after Heero. He most likely felt the exact same way.

But I undoubtedly had two very bad bruises, and Heero, trained as he was in fighting, would recognize a battle wound if he saw one.

So I took the lead and entered Heero's room, very carefully leaving the light off as I went in.

Heero hesitated in the hall, and I knew the bastard was thinking. "Coming?" I asked, and got the satisfaction of having Heero enter the room. I knew his hand would be reaching for the light, and there wasn't shit I could do without being suspicious as hell. So I let him flick it on and sat on his bed. "Wanna talk, or what?"

Heero watched me. "Yeah. Duo, about Femorel-"

"Is this a mother-hen statement, or a martyr one?" I crossed my arms.

He blinked for a moment before smiling and coming to sit next to me. "Hmm. A mother-henning one." Heero leaned in to nuzzle the back of my ear. My mind flashed to the bruise on the back of my neck and I'm afraid I shimmied away from him awful quick. I blew it off with a short glare. "No mother-henning allowed. And no distracting from the mother-henning, either."

Heero chuckled. "None at all?" And he laid a hand on my thigh. I gulped.

"Um, no. And this is... I thought I needed sleep?"

Heero leaned in, and though I leaned back and turned my head, he still managed to whisper in my ear, "are you sleepy?"

Not even remotely.

"Not fair," I said, and Heero grinned. "I said no, um, no – Heero, don't, dammit, I can't think-" I grabbed at his wandering hand, the one coming dangerously close to my crotch, but Heero just grabbed my hand with his free one and kept sliding up.

"You don't need to think, and I won't break our promise to wait." And he captured my lips.

This was something I understood, as well. More than hormones, Heero wanted to know I was alive in his arms.

Ah. I closed my eyes and tangled my free hand in his hair. Not fair.

I only remembered my bruise when Heero's hand slid up from my waist to push me down. The sudden flare of pain brought me to my senses. "H-Hold on."

"Mmm." Heero had descended to my throat and was leaving what would surely be vivid marks there. It was only a matter of time before he found the mark already sitting on my neck.

"Wait, Heero, seriously."

Heero did stop then, but the eyes that turned to me weren't so dark with desire that surprise and just a tiny tinge of hurt couldn't be read. Ouch. "Lights."

"Why do you want them out?"

I thought quickly. "I wanna try something."

Now he was interested. Too bad I had no idea what the 'something' was, myself. I cleared my throat and got up.

Heero grabbed my wrist. The desire in his eyes was fading. "You wanted the lights off before I initiated this, Duo."

Those damn eyes were looking through me again.

"You're hiding something."

"Heero..." I tried stupidly to pull my wrist free. Heero tightened his grip, just enough to let me know he wouldn't be letting me go, and loosened before a bruise could be made.

"Duo, it's best just to tell me."

Damn, but it was hard to hide things from fucking ex-Gundam pilots. "Um, I dunno about that. I mean," I added as Heero's hand clenched around my poor wrist, "the whole reason I'm not telling you is because I don't want you to, you know, get angry."

"I'm already angry, Duo."

Yeah, I could tell. His eyes were glittering. "Um..."

"Duo, despite how I acted during the war, I'm afraid I really do have a bad imagination. Please, just tell me."

That spark of hurt was there again, this time in his voice. I tried to think about how I'd feel in his position and hunched my shoulders. "It's nothing like that!" I tried again. "I mean, I love _you_, dammit, and that's the third time I've said it in twenty-four damn hours. I'm turning into a girl."

Heero was silent for a moment. Then, "you know that sounds horribly suspicious."

I nodded stupidly. "Yeah, I do."

"Duo, dammit, _tell me_."

I gave up. "How can you possibly be more stubborn than me?" I sat on the bed again.

Heero, sensing my capitulation, let go of my hand. "it's because you're stubborn about everything. I save up my stubbornness for when it counts."

"I am not stubborn about everything," I argued, but Heero's cocked eyebrow made me stop. "Yeah, yeah." I sighed then and half-glared at him. "You will not get so angry you do something stupid, okay?"

"So you _did_ do something with someone."

"Dammit, Heero, _no,_ I did not. And thank you for the trust." I fingered the bedsheets, not ready to let the bomb go off.

"I wouldn't be having trust issues if you weren't blatantly hiding from me." And Heero touched the bottom of my chin, asking silently for me to look up at him. I did, albeit reluctantly. "Please?"

Agh. Getting hit full-force with a frontal assault of Cobalt wasn't fair at all.

I sighed again and lifted my shirt. Heero gasped as soon as my stomach was in sight. I tossed it to the floor and pulled my braid over my shoulder. I took the chance to look down at what had captured Heero's attention. My stomach was a mass of purple ringed by brown-ish black. Shit. "Huh. Didn't think it would be that bad."

"What..." Heero's hand reached out, but only the very tips of his fingers touched. "What the hell happened?"

"I met with a disagreeable fist." I chuckled, but Heero didn't look amused. "I told you to not get too pissed."

"_Zechs."_

That one word was filled with such malice, I actually leaned back. "Um, I never actually said-"

"Who else?" he snarled, and was up from the bed just like that. I blinked; I almost hadn't followed the movement. "That man's been trying to get me upset for years now."

I shrugged. "And now, what? You're upset? Over this?" I indicated my stomach and wondered if it would be best to not show him my neck.

"Of course!"

"Why? You hit me here once, too, and harder than him."

Heero winced when I said that.

"Anyway, I'll just get this over with." Heero looked at me sharply then; he must have thought I was done. I smiled grimly. "Here." I pointed to my neck. There was no point in trying to hide it; Heero knew damn well I was sensitive around my neck, and he had been about to find it already. Trying to hide it now would just be stupid.

Heero had to come up and check it; after confirming that it was a bruise and it did hurt – or whatever Heero had been checking for – he turned me around and kissed me, hard and fast. "Don't try to protect me from this sort of thing, Duo."

"Just don't fight him because of this." Even though it would be fucking awesome to see Zechs get his ass kicked. "I know you don't want to fight him, and if you do once, he'll keep expecting it."

"I know." Heero didn't seem thrilled with the idea of letting it go, though.

"Idiot." I grabbed his hand, pulled him with me to turn off the light, then tugged Heero onto his bed. "I'm not upset about you... okay, yeah, I'm pissed that you tricked me back then, with the punching thing, but I get why, so don't even think about that. I'm just saying that, as an orphan and as a pilot, I've been through loads worse."

Heero slid a hand up until he was cupping my cheek, and after a second, he kissed my forehead. "I'm sorry for that." He slid down even as I grabbed the covers and lightly kissed my stomach. "And that."

I sucked my breath in. "You're being disturbingly sweet."

Heero laughed, and his breath ghosted over my stomach. It made my skin jump. "You're _such_ a romantic."

"You know it." And I tucked us in.

Heero spooned up behind me and lightly ran the tips of his fingers over my stomach. And when I was practically asleep, he kissed the back of my neck, his lips lingering there until past when I slipped into la-la land.


	11. Woke Up This Morning

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing? Sure, it's mine. And also you're stupid.

* * *

Sub Rosa

Chapter Eleven

Woke Up This Morning

* * *

So let me tell you what my next day at work was like.

It went something like this: oh, ow, shit, the wounds hurt more in the morning. Saw it coming but am not thrilled. Hello work, hello crazy psycho bitch, hello stupid newbie recruits who like to make fun of my hair. Hello fun time dropkicking said newbie recruits. Hello lunchtime.

Hello Zechs.

Okay, I'll slow it down.

After one insult too many, I had set the newbies up for a practice trial, in which I engaged six-on-one against the idiots. Now, it's been three years since everything finished war-side, and I might be lucky to be in my twenties at this point. I am actually younger than most of these idiots – something they, of course, did not fail to immediately notice. By this age factor I would like to say that my muscles have only enhanced. Mwahaha. Let's just say I won.

So it had made me feel good, though I sported a wannabe bruise on my left forearm – the man didn't have much skill, but he did have strength – and my stomach was burning an extra fire because unnecessary physical activity when wounded is dumb. Still, I felt damn good, since after getting their asses handed to them, the newbies had learned not to make fun of me. Better yet, lunchtime meant food time and, hey, I'm always a fan of regular meals.

Now, let's just say, for whatever reason, I had to go to the bathroom. There are rumors this happens to several people, unlucky as they are. I, being an unfortunate in this area as well, decided to take a piss break before the joys of food digestion could begin – well, maybe both had to do with food digestion, but the latter was more enjoyable. Then let's say some pompous asswipe whom I may or may not despise – but definitely do – just happened to be _waiting outside my damn office for me_. Yeah.

I was not thrilled.

Still, I got to be the one to start out the conversation, and I'm not known for wasting time, now am I? "Didn't work," I said with a smile, and went to move right on past him.

"Oh? Yuy doesn't care enough?" Zechs stood from leaning against the wall – what was he, a supermodel? – and uncrossed his arms.

"Not about you, no." I really wanted to leave, but I didn't trust the man to not randomly tackle me. And I had enough bruises, thanks.

"I still have yet to hear everything about your relationship with Preventer Angel."

Angel? I blinked, and I swear it took far too long for me to realize that that was Heero's Preventor name. I almost laughed – I'd been named Shinigami. Win. Fucking win. "Yeah, and you won't be hearing anything about it," I said, even though it was very late for a retort.

"Oh? You do understand your position, don't you?"

"My position," I snarled, "is just outside my office, where a fight would be easily witnessed. But hey, if you wanna start something again, I'm good for it. My friend isn't here to stop me this time."

Zechs merely smirked. His fucking face was superiorly looking down on me, as if what I'd said proved my inferiority. "I see no reason to defeat you again. Surely you can see you can't beat me. No, I have something more important to note."

I was in no mood. "Yeah, well, I'm hungry, so fuck off."

It was when I was finally moving past him, aware of every movement he made, that he spoke again, once more crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. "You'll get him killed, you know."

I didn't pause. "The hell I will."

"So you can keep up with them? You, who couldn't keep himself out of trouble for more than a week during the war?"

My fists clenched, but I managed to keep walking. If Heero could keep himself from beating the man up, then so could I.

"Someone like you will only slow him down."

I turned at the bend next to the break room, where my beautiful lunch waited in the freezer. "Dude, you sound fuckin' _jealous_."

Zechs glared, and I turned away again, my braid swishing against my back. Ah, sweet victory.

"Maybe I am."

That stopped me cold.

Zechs hadn't moved from the wall, but his stance was much more battle-ready. I tensed, as well, and spread my feet, prepared to defend – or maybe just fucking attack. "What the hell are you saying?"

"Oh, I certainly don't want sex with him," Zechs said, "but I would prefer to be his priority."

That sounded far too sexual. Worse, it wounded like he wanted Heero to be... girly. "You want him _mooning_ over you?"

"Don't you?" Zechs grinned, but it wasn't at all kind. I bristled. "But no, that's not what I meant. I want him thinking about defeating me. His warrior self has been lost over the years."

I couldn't believe the man could make me hate him more. "Heero hasn't _lost_ anything!"

"As a Gundam pilot, he raised me to new levels of power with his presence. He had the ability to make people turn to him, listen to him. Fall to him. He was a true soldier. Now he's changed. He's lost his love of the battlefield."

"He never _had_ it!" I was entering a battle rage. I wanted nothing more than to shoot him, to shut him up, to make sure he could never get near Heero again. How long had Heero been hearing this man's words? How many times had Heero had to listen to this, to question himself, to remember the training that bastard J had put him through? How much?

"I haven't had the pleasure of meeting him again after your presence in his life, but I can only assume he's fallen even further into the civilian life. It will be his death."

And finally his words sunk in, enough that I could hear him, really _hear_ him. I thought back to when I'd fought Heero, back when I'd... back when I'd thought he was a cyborg, and everything almost ended in disaster. Had Heero been weaker? He'd certainly seemed invincible to me, but this was the man who had stopped a base from exploding, the man who had punched me in the gut and knocked my ass out.

_Was_ he... weaker?

"So even you can understand," Zechs murmured.

"Heero can take care of himself," I said finally, but I wasn't sure if I was convinced. I had put myself in harm's way, though, and, I remembered, Heero had been trying to make me think he was trying to kill me, but in actuality, he'd been carefully keeping me alive. That... that last moment probably happened because I'd thrown myself straight into danger, and Heero, to protect me, let me get close. He _gave_ me the opportunity to kill him.

This time, my conviction was stronger. "You don't understand Heero at all. Everything you've said proves that. I know Heero's strong, stronger than you think. Wanting to live in peace isn't a vulnerability, and not wanting to fight isn't a weakness."

Zechs shook his head. "You really will kill him."

It made me flinch, and I knew Zechs picked up on it. He tilted his head in recognition of the small victory.

"Though, if Heero Yuy gained his strength again, I believe he would be an asset to my plans against Femorel."

"Gained his strength again." It didn't take a genius to understand what he meant. "You want me to break up with him."

He shrugged. "Or whatever you want to call it. If he truly does care for you, it will only serve to slow him down. If not, then all the better; sex is not a problem, simply the emotions you seem to have."

Emotions which he obviously considered weak. "I feel bad for Noin. Following you around all these years, and she'll never be anything to you. Poor woman's gonna be single forever."

"No. I simply know when to turn off my emotions."

"If you can 'turn off' your feelings for Noin, then they aren't love." I stood straight again, let myself relax a bit. "I think we're done here."

"Oh? You won't give him up?" Zechs seemed unsurprised by this. "You really don't know about Femorel. You alone won't know what you're facing."

"And whose fault is that?" But I wasn't getting into this argument again. "We'll take care of the Femorel problem. After all, we took care of both Oz and White Fang, and you were our enemy in both."

Zechs wasn't pleased with the reminder. "I planned on you defeating White Fang."

"So you knew we were stronger from the get-go." I shrugged and waved. "Whatever. Toodles."

"It's not quite so simple," Zechs said then, and even though I turned to demand an answer, he only smiled and waved me away.

* * *

After that, things only got funner.

Une called me in exactly one hour before I was supposed to head off back to Heero, and when I entered her office, two men were standing in front of her, backs straight, feet shoulder-length apart, and hands behind their backs. Fucking soldiers. And then Une turned to me.

"I need you to accompany these men on a bust."

A bust. "Like a drug bust?" Fuck. Well, I was gonna be late back.

"Yes. They should be heading out now, so you need to suit up immediately. Information will be given to you on the way."

"Great. Why so last-minute?"

"They had more weapons and abilities than originally anticipated. Three men were downed taking a look around, and we barely got them back."

"So they know we're coming." I grimaced. "Great." Une knew damn well I was more the surprise and conquer type, but I guessed I was taking what would normally be Heero's place. Fantastic.

"Come, Agent Death," one of the men said, and I lifted an eyebrow at the name. Guess they also couldn't handle saying such a complicated word as Shinigami. "We have a car waiting."

Fuck. That sounded far too much like what the Oz soldiers had said when they'd taken me out to meet my adoring public before my scheduled execution. "Oh, goodie," I said, trying to roll the man's words off my shoulders. "This should be fun."

"Still have that humor, I see." And the man turned to face me.

_Mother_. He really _was_ one of the soldiers who had taken me out to meet my adoring public before my scheduled execution. "Uh, yeah, still got it good."

Let's guess how this went, shall we?

So Une let us go, and whil eon our way to the car, the soldier makes a few cracks about me, then says we're allies now, then proceeds to treat me as if I were practically invisible. Okay. Let me slow down again.

The car, first off, sucked. I like cars. I especially like fast cars, and pretty cars are kind've nice, too. This particular car is what I believe people would call a clunker. If they were feeling generous.

First, it was a stick. And though I don't mind sticks, in this day and age, they better be on a showroom floor, because those babies are not useful in any sort of speed situation.

Second, the engine was not only extremely sub-par, it also seemed to want to die. Sputteringly. I was surprised the thing started up at all.

Third – and by this time, it's probably of no surprise to anyone whatsoever – the thing was _ugly_. I think the paint job would've been awful even if it were fine, but the thing was so old it had just turned the general color of rust. I kind've faltered on my way to the thing when I realized the monstrosity for what it was, thus managing to shut the ex-soldier up for a minute.

"All right?" he asked. I just nodded and looked at the other guy, the one who was obviously the ex-soldier's partner. He didn't seem to want to meet my eyes, but he did keep shooting his partner overt glares. Huh. A silent ally, but an ally nonetheless. I'd take it and run with it.

I got the backseat of the thing, of course, while the silent one got the steering wheel. The talkative bastard turned to me after I latched my seatbelt and took the chance to grin at the action. I didn't bother telling him that I didn't trust his partner at the wheel or that I didn't trust the car to manage over forty without exploding, let alone have proper traction.

"We're heading in to Gringoll Alley. Know the place?"

"I've only been here for a short time, and I already know plenty about it." It was the baddy central of this particular city. "Weapons, drugs? Both?"

"Both," the man said with a nod, "Though we didn't know the last one until we went in last time. We need to get them before they head out."

I didn't know if that would be possible in this vehicle.

"The drugs aren't normal, though, which is why we Preventors were brought in to begin with." As they spoke, I was pointed to the trunk, and when I wrenched back one of the cushions behind me, I found our weapons and two Kevlar vests. I grabbed one and put it on, then passed out the weapons.

"I want you to understand that we are allies now," the ex-soldier continued, rather randomly, and looked at me like I was about to rip his throat out. "There is to be no in-fighting."

"No shit?" I tossed it out with just a tiny bit of sarcasm. And a lot of annoyance.

"Look, you may be S-Class, but we're in charge of this case."

"Dude, have I said word one against your leadership in this endeavor?" I double-checked my gun as I spoke, ignoring how the man glared at me, obviously wanting me to catch his eye. Finally his partner cleared his throat, and the bastard turned back to the front.

Said partner was the one to finally give me the information on the bust, the dozen or so men we should be expecting and the Special K – Ketamine – the bastards had been hiding in food in nearby grocery stores.

And then I got the news about the weapons – the assault weapons and mini-gatlings that these geniuses had just... missed. Somehow.

And then we were just outside a – oh, these people are creative – car garage, and they were definitely ready for us. We'd hardly gotten to the damn place when they opened fire on me. I wasn't supposed to be on the field, goddammit. Worse, as if taking down a team when I was supposed to be a fucking comp analyst and trainer wasn't enough, I had to cover for those two fools when they decided to run from cover to cover to get close enough to the gatlings to take down those men.

Stealth? What about stealth? Go behind, wrap around, blend with the baddies?

No. Don't wanna.

So I ended up using up all my bullets protecting those idiots and had two men come up behind me. I managed to sense them as they snuck around my hiding spot, but one of their bullets, initially wild, managed to nick me as I rolled. I threw my gun at one and twirled around the other until I could grab his firing hand and twist. I snatched the gun as it fell to the ground and smashed the man's skull in. Then I had to run after the leader, who'd chosen his chance to escape with expert aplomb.

For their credit, as I left, those two took over the area and had those men on the ground kissing asphalt in seconds. Well trained. Just not by someone as good as me.

The chase was where things really got interesting. The bastard had on jeans and a black t-shirt. Sneakers. Brown hair. He ran to a bar, slid inside, and became smoke.

I, of course, didn't blend in so well. Preventors uniform, gun, braid. I got wrapped up in _people_ fucking _everywhere_. I ended up having to hold out my gun and tell the dumbass civilians to hit the floor before I could maneuver my way through to the back exit. The man wouldn't have stayed, and he wouldn't have ducked. He wasn't ready to get caught, which meant I had no chance of finding him in that bar.

The back door led to a thin alleyway with nothing more than a small trashcan. The alley ran right and left. Two directions. I looked at both, then at the cement wall blocking off the alley from the rest of the city. With a small grunt, I leaped up and grabbed the ledge. I hoisted myself up and looked around, gun at the ready.

Yep, and there he was, running off like a 'tard down the opposite alley and into the street. Just as I would've done. Give an enemy two roads and create a third. I jumped down and rolled on impact, leaping right back up and charging around the corner. _Now_ I had a lock on him. _Finally_, I could actually start _chasing_ him.

So he ran two blocks to the grocery store, once more trying to lose me in the crowd, but grocery stores at night had no one in them and I could follow him, no problem. As soon as I pulled my gun out again, everyone hit the floor.

And that would be when the man turned to a college-age female on the ground and fired at her.

I shot the man's gun from his hand just a bit too late, and the woman screamed. I cursed and shot again, this time hitting the man in the leg and downing him. I shot the gun away from him, just in case, and ran over to the man. It didn't take long to handcuff him, then to order a cashier to call for an ambulance. Then I scurried over to the woman, keeping Mr. Civilian-Attacker well within my sights.

The woman's side, just below one of her breasts, had been hit, a pass-through near the edge of her body. I ripped off my shirt and tore it until it could be used to wrap up the wound. "You'll be all right," I assured her, but she was too busy crying to hear. I pulled up dispatch and radioed in my coordinates and the state of the suspect.

"U-Um, sir," an employee said, coming up beside me like he wanted to run away, "you have to have a shirt-"

"This woman's bleeding out on the floor and you're concerned about my shirt, little boy?"

The teenager withered under my glare. "It's just – my job..."

I nodded him over to the cashier. "Go over there and help her call this in. Tell her the woman's been shot in the side and has been bandaged, but hasn't yet stopped bleeding. Or crying," I added low under my breath. "And make sure she tells the ambulance there's another injured, a suspect who's in Preventer custody."

"Yes, sir." And with something to do, the boy ran off to do as told.

I watched him for a moment, noticing how his limbs trembled and how wide his eyes were. I thought back to how he'd looked at the blood on the ground like it were venomous.

And I had a bastard mix of envy, hatred, and... happiness. Even though I wish I'd had his life, even though I hated the fact that I'd suffered while he'd lived easy, I had to admit that seeing this boy, innocent to the point of naïve, running around in a grocery store with usually nothing on his mind save the new CD his favorite band had released, made me ridiculously pleased. It made me a little nicer when I smacked up the perp after he started threatening me.

Of course, Preventer ops took forever to arrive, and I had to go back and report to Une and write up the same thing I just said and managed to call Heero just long enough to tell him I was sorry, but I was gonna be even later. When Heero had asked why, I'd just told him I'd had to do clean-up as an apology for taking you out of work.

The shot I'd taken had just been a graze, and it wasn't so bad that I couldn't say I'd caught myself on a bad nail.

Yeah. Because with Heero angry with Zechs, he didn't need to be pissed with Une, too.

It was near fucking midnight when I finally got done, and when I got into the house I could only kiss Heero quickly on the lips, tell him he was awesome and Une was a sadist, and then fell into his bed without a thought.

It was only about an hour later, when Heero came up to me chuckling and kissed me on the cheek, that I'd come up to his room – his _bed_ – without thinking anything of it at all.

But Heero didn't say anything, simply getting in behind me and pulling me flush against him. If I hadn't been so damn tired, I probably would have gotten a little hot and bothered by it. Instead, Heero kissed me on the neck, whispered such a soft "I love you" I hardly heard it, and slipped an arm around my waist. I was asleep again in no time.

And dammit, but I had to go back in to work the next day.


	12. Animals

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing? Sure, it's mine. And also you're stupid.

Note: Um, so this scene is gonna be a lot hotter, and though it's not full-fledged lemony goodness, it's sure as hell trying to be. Those of you who don't know what a lemon is may want to skip down to the little line break. Also, I apologize for however stilted it may be – writing this in first person is a little weird.

* * *

Sub Rosa

Chapter Twelve

Animals

* * *

I woke up in Heero's arms. Holy damn.

I'd never woken up with a hard-on before. At least, not with company present.

What was infinitely worse was our position on the bed. Heero had one arm possessively strung over my waist, and one leg was pushed between mine, dangerously close to my way-too-hot sac. I breathed in deeply and found myself equally entangling Heero – my arms were around his lower back and under his head, cradling it. My face was buried in his collarbone.

There was no way I was getting out of this without him waking up.

"Good morning, Duo."

Oh, _fuck_.

"Hey." I yawned and bent my back to try to stretch, but the maneuver wasn't the smartest one. Heero moved his arm down and locked my back in its arched position. My stomach was on his. My erection was on his.

I blushed like hell and tried to move away. Heero simply lifted his leg up a bit and rubbed against me.

I think I keened a little as I pulled myself closer to him.

Heero chuckled. "You woke up early. I didn't think you would. You were really tired last night."

"She's a slave driver." I groaned, but it was all because of Heero's free hand, twirling around until it was entangled in my hair, falling out of yesterday's braid in clumps. "I had a – mmm – long day, and – wait, Heero, morning breath much?" I pulled away from his questing mouth.

"Do you care?" he breathed, and my eyes almost crossed. His leg was going back and forth against me. I found myself rubbing back before I quite knew what to do.

"Ah, no, but-"

"No buts." And Heero pulled on my braid until our lips mashed together. Heero, having gained my compliance, moved his hand down from my back to my butt and, grabbing the flesh, pushed me up so that our erections were pressed tight against my jeans and – _fuck!_ Heero had nothing on.

"Not fair," I told him, breaking my lips free. He responded by slipping his other leg between mine, until my legs were spread open around him. "The fuck? I'm bottom?"

This time he laughed. "Only if you can't beat me to get top."

He and I both knew I couldn't fucking beat him. "Bastard."

He just licked down my jaw to my throat. I gasped at the feel, at the touch of his teeth at my pulse. Blood rushed straight down to my groin and throbbed like a tsunami. Shit.

Heero chuckled again. "Yup. That's a sensitive spot."

"Shut up." I reached for his chest and rubbed up until I found his nipple. Lightly I touched it, not knowing how much would please and how much would hurt. Heero hissed against my neck. "Sensitive spot?" I teased.

"Maybe. Or maybe I find your hesitancy endearing."

"Too many big words for the moment," I muttered, and I skimmed my fingers over the hard nub again. This time Heero didn't respond at all, and I frowned. Had I messed up? I pinched it lightly between my first and second fingers and rubbed up and down. Heero shivered. "Ha," I crowed quietly and smirked. "I win."

"Watch it." His own fingers left my braid and skimmed down until they had my back pressed up, until our chests were together like our pelvises, practically glued. My hand was stuck for a second, but I managed to get it out from between us.

"Heero," I gasped, "it's Friday – I still have to go in to see the witch. And the bastard – he talked to me last – yesterday, and... ah, shit, Heero..." I arched my neck back as Heero moved his hips somehow. Lightning. A hot shock of heat lightning just flashed through my groin, searing my vision white. "_Fuck_."

"So eloquent."

"Stop it with the big words!" I growled, but Heero bit the middle of my throat and my breath left me on a breath. I keened again.

"I love you," Heero murmured, rather randomly, and kissed my throat with odd gentleness.

My alarm sounded.

I was the only one to jump, dammit, though Heero's arms did tense around me. "It's time for you to get ready for work." He sounded less than thrilled.

Me? I couldn't fucking _breathe_ yet, let alone think. I gulped in air and tried to get some circulation back up north. "I – _fuck_, Heero. _Fuck_."

The bastard had the audacity to chuckle. At least when I glared at him, he had the grace to hide his face in the crook of my shoulders. Too bad I could still feel him shaking in mirth. "That," he said, and his voice was full of both triumph and wonder, "was the best morning ever."

"You don't know that yet," I grumbled, but his words had me grinning stupidly. "It's only just started."

"Damn good start, then," he said, his voice muffled by my body, and I couldn't help but agree. Especially since his mouth was moving against my skin.

"I need a cold shower."

"So do I." Heero grinned up through his bangs. My breath caught again, captured by the beauty of those eyes and the glitter in them. The emotion – it hit me again, suddenly, randomly, how lucky I was to see such emotions in those eyes. "How about we share?"

Oh, shit. I had to close my eyes to stand a chance against that look of his. "Heero, if we go in together, we won't be coming out nearly in time for me to get to work on time."

"I know."

He didn't sound the least bit concerned about this.

I grit my teeth. "Yeah, well, she's annoyed enough about you being out of the office for me to not wish more wrath upon my head."

Heero frowned at that, but at least I managed to get out from his arms and shut off the damn alarm. "That's something I wanted to ask you – what did she keep you back for?"

I shrugged. "Menial crap. You know, I hadn't known some Preventors could be so stupid."

Heero snorted. "We needed you training the new recruits for a reason. But you're avoiding the question."

"That's because I can't fucking _think_." It was semi-true. I kicked off the sheets and scooted off the bed. "Let's see – paperwork, and did you know that one of my captors is now a coworker?"

Heero's eyes sharpened there. "What?"

"Oh, you heard me." I could finally get my brain functioning enough to know how to walk over to the bathroom. Heero watched my every step. "He was way too superior at first, but he finally just shut up. I felt bad for his partner – the poor man looked so damn uncomfortable around the idiot. Glad I'm S-Class." I pulled off my shirt as I headed to the hall and tossed it in the hamper.

"Where'd you get the bruises and cut?"

Good Lord, Mr. Mother-Hen. But I knew better then to throw that one out. Heero was probably waiting for more bad news. "Huh? Oh. Those. I had some fairly stupid recruits, and I got tired of them making cracks about my age. I had a battle royale against them and kicked their asses hard enough that they shut up. Got a couple good licks in from them, though. Guess Une doesn't let just anybody join." I shrugged and tossed him a quick grin. "I won, though, and that's what counts."

Heero rolled his eyes. "Only you, Duo."

"Now, now, don't go quoting Wufei!" I left the room and called out as I entered the bathroom, "You can't tell me they didn't say stupid shit about your looks, either!"

"Not after I glared at them," Heero responded loudly, and it made me laugh hard enough that I almost wasn't pissed by the hard shock of cold water on my skin after I stripped and got in the tub.

* * *

Heero already had breakfast on the table and was eating his share when I got down the stairs. I plopped down, still slightly shivering even after having dressed and rather miserable. Heero, however, looked like Christmas had come early. The bastard was laid-back, relaxed, and, when I entered, he looked up with a soft smile on his lips. My sulking glare only served to make that smile widen.

"Shut up," I muttered.

"You could have masturbated," he said simply.

I paused in the act of grabbing a plate and turned to him in shock. "Is that a joke?"

Though his eyes were definitely laughing, he shook his head. "It's the truth. Masturbating would have been much more enjoyable than the shower."

I snarled at him. "Really? Is that what you did?" Because somehow having Heero at the start and not at the finish felt too weird to name. And having Heero finish without me made me feel weird, too. Not quite betrayed, but something close to it.

The humor in Heero's eyes dimmed. "No. It wouldn't feel right, somehow. I want to come with you."

He was so sincere it made me blush. My eyes dropped to the floor, and I turned back to the cabinet, then grabbed a fork. "Okay, then."

"I take it you felt the same."

I didn't answer.

The eggs were scrambled, and beside them were sausage links. I grabbed two of them, as well, and sat next to Heero. "Bored much?" I asked, indicating the food.

"It's not like I have to get ready for work." Heero scowled at that and thank goodness, but the damn topic shifted. "You were talking about your meeting with Zechs earlier. What happened with him?"

"Oh, yeah, _now_ you care." I scoffed and sat down and scarfed down the first few bites of eggs. "He didn't tell me anything useful, of course, the cheap fuck, but he did get in my face about you."

Heero paused in the act of eating. "What do you mean?"

"Calm down, mother-hen," I said, waving a hand in dismissal. "He just said he wanted you on his team, but he didn't want me in a ten-mile radius of him or Femorel. He said if you joined him, he'd give you info on Femorel."

"On the stipulation that you don't come with me."

I shrugged. "Pretty much."

Heero seemed less than pleased with this. The reaction made me happy somehow – vindictively, because, ha, suck on that, asscracker – but also with that warm-fuzzy feel, that feeling that Heero would never abandon me like that.

Wow. That sounded so cheesy.

"Like _hell_," he said finally, and his voice was like a feral hiss.

"Okay. Yeah. That's pretty much what I'd told him you'd say."

Heero seemed surprised by this. He put his fork down and leaned into the table. "You told him I wouldn't want to join him?"

"Actually, I told him we five would take care of Femorel, and that he could sit on his ass twiddling his thumbs for all we cared." The look Heero was giving me was a little odd. "What?"

"Nothing." Heero shook his head and looked back down to his food, but he didn't continue eating. "You just didn't use to have this sort of confidence in us."

I blushed. He was right, of course; I'd been the one to constantly double-guess our... relationship. "Yeah, well... shut up."

He chuckled, and with that, his shoulders untensed. "What else did he say to you?"

It would probably be better to tell him. Especially since I was hiding what I'd done all last night. Still, we needed Une on our side, dammit, and Heero getting in her face about taking me out on the field wouldn't be good. "Well, he kind've told me that I should break up with you because I would get you killed. Jesus, Heero, sit down."

Heero had stood like quicksilver, almost making his chair fall to the floor It banged back onto all fours rather loudly. His hands were fists on the table, and he looked dangerously close to ignoring his earlier promise to behave. "He told you to..." His eyes were cold, completely Perfect Soldier. "I'll kill him."

"Now, now, Heero. I'm obviously not listening to that two-bit-"

"I had to fight like hell to keep you with me!" Heero roared, and his fist slammed on the table. The wood shook; I think the only reason it didn't break was because Heero had enough control to keep it from happening. "Every day, I feared you would run, would disappear and leave me behind again. And now, after all that, he told you to...!"

Ah.

I picked off a piece of scrambled egg, put it on my fork, and slingshot it toward his face. He caught it, then blinked down at me, his surprise and confusion getting rid of that damn soldier look. "Yuy, I don't give two rat's asses about that bastard, and yeah, you've worked your ass off to keep me here. What the fuck makes you think you'll actually lose to that milkshake?"

Heero popped the little piece of egg in his mouth and smiled. His fist loosened, and again the man sat. "You're right. He never did beat me, did he?"

I laughed. "And you're so modest!"

"Damn straight." His grin flittered on the edges of a smirk. He started eating again. "Anything else?"

"Yes. Une is a sadist, and I hate idiots."

"Sounds familiar."

"Thought I'd emphasize."

The rest of the breakfast was spent talking about more fun things, mostly Heero's unending boredom and my more creative ideas on what he could be doing. Heero pointed out how late it was getting after I told him to see how many items in the fridge he could stack on top of each other.

I kissed him quickly on the lips, whispered "I'll be fine" into his mouth, and headed out.

And swore to myself that I would get something out of Zechs Merquise if it was the last thing I did.

* * *

I got the chance after I told my six recruits to take a five minute break. I sipped from a water bottle and watched Zechs move past the door. I chased after him and, when he turned to me, splashed him with the water.

"By the way," I said, watching with relish as he shook droplets from his hands and glared at me, "Treize and Oz are fucking dead, and your mistake is forcing us into a shit position. Your superiority complex may make this difficult for you to comprehend, but you fucked up, and now we have to deal with the consequences. If you don't feel like helping, that's fine – just know that we have no intention of losing. No matter what."

Zechs pushed his wet bangs from his eyes. "You and your friends, then, plan on breaking the law."

"Maybe not them. But if we're put in danger, I won't have any problem doing whatever I have to. I don't give a fuck what the consequences are, so long as we make it out safe."

Zechs seemed unimpressed. "And you tell me this after throwing water on me why?"

"Because I needed to get your attention, and I don't fucking like you." I crushed the bottle and threw it at him. He caught it, but the few drops left inside splashed onto his face. Ha. And his uniform was soaked. Brilliant.

"You got it."

"You want Heero on your team? _You_ don't have the right to ask for anything. _You're_ the one who fuck up majorly. And yeah, we're good enough that we don't absolutely need whatever information you could give us, but we could sure as hell use it. And what the fuck makes you think that Heero was out there on those battlefields fighting alone? Yeah, he was the one who kept beating your stupid ass, but we were there, too, and we fought like hell for every second of this peace. We deserve it. We _earned_ it. And _you're_ mistake is taking it from us! It's beyond unforgivable!"

Zechs squeezed out the water from his hair as I spoke. "Well, thank you for that well organized soliloquy. Are you finished?"

"Yeah, I guess I'm about done. Lemme guess – you ain't gonna say word one, are you?" I felt almost flushed by my anger, and dammit, but the street slang was coming back. "You're gonna piss out on us again. You might as well still be an enemy – a fucking Oz bitch."

Zechs eyes narrowed at that. "You should be more careful with your words. Wasn't that what always got you into trouble?"

"And wasn't your pride what always got your ass stuck in shit?" I sneered. This wasn't working. I wasn't going to get anything from him. And my men were coming back, lining up like high school kids, preparing for the fight that our stances said was inevitable. I wasn't going to get any information from him, not if I won and certainly not if I lost. Worse, Heero's conviction to not fight Zechs – and my subsequent decision to back up said choice with my own – would be toast. If I came back with more bruises from Zechs, no matter the outcome, I had no doubt that Heero would put a bullet through Zechs' spleen.

"My pride?" Zechs countered. "It's simply fact that I'm a better fighter than you."

I saw fucking _red_. "Maybe. Maybe, in a one-on-one duel, no dirt, no stealth, all honor-bound bullshit, yeah, you might win. But in a real battle situation, I'd kill you before you knew I was in the room."

"You underestimate me." Zechs pulled off his damp shirt, and his pale chest was left open to the public. I refused to look down, to give him the opening to jump on my shit about eyeing his chest for a moment, even if it was just to gauge his muscle strength or where to stab him.

"Isn't that what you've been doing with us all this time? You think without you, we couldn't possibly pull this off. You think the only one of us who can fight is Heero?" A cruel thought entered my mind, and without thinking it through whatsoever, I let it fly. "Did you forget that your precious Treize was killed by our dear Wufei?"

And those eyes narrowed again, and suddenly the fight _was_ inevitable. "No. I very well recall."

And then Une and Wufei showed up.

They walked side by side toward us, neither one seemingly perturbed by our battle-ready positions or the fact that neither of us turned our full attention to them. Our eyes were trained on each other.

"I believe you owe these two explanations," Une said, walking straight in-between the two of us. Wufei stayed back, gaging, I would bet, the tension. He moved to stand beside me and crossed his arms imperiously. Neither of us moved from our stances, but I, at least, made seven new plans in order to bypass Une if a fight began. "And I deserve one, as well. Hiding something like this is inexcusable."

I turned to Wufei then, still keeping myself ready to dodge if necessary. "You told her?"

"She's my boss." He shrugged, but I knew damn well he'd planned it to work this way.

"You didn't get rid of them?" she asked, and her voice held enough authority that my trainees decided to go somewhere else without anyone even looking at them. Hm. They might be a bit smarter than I'd thought. "Why? Mr. Treize gave you explicit instructions."

"He also gave a stipulation to the order," Zechs gritted out, and his eyes shot over to us. "I do not have any obligations to them. If you wish to know more, I would speak privately."

"And I would speak here." Une's voice sounded ten seconds away from going Sadistic Psycho on his ass. Zechs' hair dripped.

"Then I'm afraid I will not speak to you."

I think all of us stilled a bit in shock.

And with that, Zechs walked off again.

Une's lips thinned. "If the two of you need help, you will have it from me. Meanwhile, I will speak to him. I will contact you later."

"He'll see that coming," Wufei said quietly.

"I'll contact you later," she repeated, and followed after Zechs. She was a woman on a mission.

"Thank you, Wufei." But when I turned to him, he wasn't angry, like I'd expected. Instead, he was smiling.

"Did you know we could hear you? Une wasn't happy with your reference to Treize, but..." And to my utter shock, he lifted his hand and clapped me on the shoulder. "Thank you, my friend."

I blinked. "Um, for what, exactly?"

But Wufei simply shook his head. "Sometimes it still surprises me, what you're like. Only you could honor me and not even realize it."

Honor him? "Uh... okay? You're welcome?"

And he chuckled and walked off.

Okay, what the fuck?

* * *

Wufei met me in my office again at the end of the day. "Tonight we plan, and tomorrow we attack," Wufei said as greeting.

I was in the process of turning off my computer. "Yup. All hell breaks loose come fourteen hours. I'm worried, somehow. I have a bad feeling about this. Maybe it's just because we're walking in blind."

"Perhaps. I would like to visit Une before we leave."

My monitor went black, and I stood. "I was about to say the same thing. Hold on one second – I need to call Heero."

"Ever the worrier," Wufei joked, and waited by the door as I speed-dialed Heero with my cell phone.

"Heero."

"Do you always have to answer the phone like that? Why not say something like, 'welcome, you've called the Hot Hunk Hotline, my name is Heero; what can I do for you'?"

Heero laughed. "Because only you could pull that off."

"I don't know. You have a killer voice." Wufei rolled his eyes.

"What is it, Duo? Will you be late again?"

"Yeah. Wufei told Une, and she's most likely been on Zechs' ass since." I looked over to Hannibal Lector and stuck my tongue out at him.

"Wufei told Une?" Heero's voice was tense.

"Yeah. I stand by his decision. Zechs certainly wasn't talking to us. And Une offered her help."

"It was a gamble." But Heero sighed. "If it works, though, I have no problem with it. Take however long you need, but if Une tries to keep you tonight, too, tell her I said you aren't to be held up."

"You actually want me to tell Une to fuck off?" I grinned at the thought of it – then frowned. That wouldn't be very safe of me.

"I would prefer you to not use those exact words, no." I could hear Heero's grin through the phone. "How about you just go, talk to her, and come home? Maybe we could finish where we started off this morning."

His voice had dropped to a deep, husky note. "Man," I breathed, "and you don't think you could be a phone sex operator?"

He laughed again. "Only if it's you on the other end. Come back quick so I can touch you."

I blushed and looked guiltily toward Wufei. The man seemed inordinately interested in my posters, and an unmistakable blush colored his cheeks, as well. "Uh, yeah. You convinced me."

"Glad to hear it," Heero said, chuckling as he spoke. And with a "see you soon," we both hung up.

* * *

A/N: According to fanfiction, the arcs of this story all equal up to almost 300,000 words. o_O I have no life.


	13. Another Hole In The Head

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing? Sure, it's mine. And also you're stupid.

Note: To those who waited patiently for this update as I finished "Fangs of the Wolf," I thank you.

* * *

Sub Rosa

Chapter Thirteen

Another Hole In The Head

* * *

Une was waiting in her office, Zechs nowhere in sight. I was thankful for this, since he and I couldn't go a full minute without envisioning several ways in which the other could die. "Gentlemen." Une greeted us as we entered. Wufei went to sit in one of her chairs while I kind've hesitated in the doorway; I'd been the one to start a fight in her building, after all. She could be preparing my eminent demise.

"Commander," Wufei said, his hands neatly pressed to his lap. "Do you have anything for us?"

The woman leaned forward, placing her elbows onto the surface and steepling her fingers. "Zechs told me nothing new, but I can at least tell you what I already know."

Oh, goody. The fun part. "That would be fantastic."

"Only, however," she said, and of course there had to be a damn stipulation to this, "if you tell me everything that's going on. I received the basics from Agent Chang." She nodded shortly to Wufei and then turned to glare at me. "How about informing me of the rest?"

"Okay, why is this suddenly all my fault?" I asked, throwing my hands in the air in a gesture of surrender.

"What do you mean, 'suddenly,' Maxwell? Everything's always your fault." I glared at Wufei's smirk.

"So we all got cloned by the gods of pestilence and now, since we've had the psychos after us – or at least two of 'em, and one's not far from it – then of course we've gotta be the ones to stop the other two, and some Femorel place just happens to be housing at least one of 'em and they're picking a fight with us."

Une blinked. Then she turned to Wufei. "Could you translate that, please?"

"Femorel has, as Maxwell said, one of the clones created by one of our scientists. Those who trained us." Une nodded, a sign that she understood so far. I pouted. Bastards. 'Translate,' indeed. "They have made threats to our safety and, though we don't know for certain what their plans may be, we know they're after something."

"Thank you, Agent Chang." Une sent me a droll look. I stuck my tongue out at her. "You boys' habit of keeping your problems a secret from me is a serious problem."

"We're used to dealing with things on our own," I said. "And we could still handle it – if we were allowed to capture and torture that long-haired..." I stopped at the looks Une and Wufei were sending me. "What? It's true."

Une put a hand to her forehead and rubbed. "Be that as it may. From now on, try telling me what's happening!"

"Deal," I said. "And now for that information...?"

She shot me a withering glare from underneath that hand of hers. "We all had our parts to play after the war," she said finally, but she was looking at Wufei again. "Lord Treize was supposed to take on the sins of war, Zechs the burden of war, and me the devastation of war."

I rose an eyebrow at that one. "Sounds far too poetic to me."

Another glare, this time from both of them. I held my hands up in surrender again. I had forgotten; Wufei had loved Treize. "My bad."

"Yes, it is. Remember that, would you?" I blew a raspberry at the woman. She sighed. "And to think you're in my S-Class..." But she shook her head, ignored me once more, and continued. "Lord Treize took his responsibility in the form of his death, and I in the form of this Headquarters and its neighboring facilities. Zechs was supposed to take over White Fang and create as much devastation as possible."

"He sure did that," I muttered, cutting in once more. But though all it did was garner another pair of stares, I saw Une and Wufei both relax a bit. The talk about Treize's death wasn't easy for them. I walked over and threw an arm over Wufei's shoulder. "Aw, c'mon, 'Fei. Don't be so mean."

"Maxwell. Off." Wufei glared out from the side of his eye, and though he was tensing a bit, it was due to the fight he and I were about to start.

"Meanie." I ignored his complaint and turned back to Une. "Yeah? So how'd the bastard fuck up?"

The woman seemed momentarily confused by my apparent masochism, but she finally got that throat of hers working again. "We sent him alone to White Fang, but we kept initial contact. Zechs informed us of a group of men who'd worked closely with you boys' trainers. The scientists."

Okay. I straightened. This was where the juicy stuff entered. I kept my arm around Wufei, though, even as I saw his eye twitch.

"These men ended up finding the weakness of the Libra, which led to Zechs' decision to destroy the Earth, something that you all stopped, of course." I decided not to interrupt this time, something that only gained me a cocked eyebrow for my trouble. "He was supposed to simply get rid of everything, or else give me the information for me to clean up. Obviously he didn't."

"Obviously."

Wufei looked over at me and I could see his patience with me was at an end; I got off him and laughed. Something flickered in those dark eyes of his. He kept his eyes on me as he addressed Une. "Do you have anything else?"

"Yes, two things. One: those men Zechs found weren't just science assistants. He said they seemed to understand battles. To him, understanding a battle means both mental and physical preparation, so they're good with both strategies and physical combat. And two: Zechs will not be willing to share this burden with you."

"We didn't ask him to," I said, and backed carefully away from Wufei. That flickering something was hardening. "May I leave, please?"

I could hear the smirk on her face, the one I could just barely see from the corner of my eye. "Yes, Agent Maxwell. You may run for your life now."

Great. I did as instructed and beat a retreat. Wufei did that stupid bowing thing that saved me a few seconds. I didn't really run, okay? I even stopped outside the entrance, you know, because he was my friend and eventually we would be seeing each other again. I just wanted to be able to run if necessary.

What? Personally I think I'd undergone enough abuse for one week.

But when Wufei exited, he seemed perfectly calm, if a bit troubled. His gait was even, his hands lying by his sides. He caught sight of me immediately and stopped. I watched those eyes, but there was no intent to harm and I relaxed. "Hi, 'Fei."

I blinked. Did Wufei just bite his lip? "I'm not angry with you, Maxwell."

"If I thought you were, I'd be hightailin' it." I pointed behind me, then shoved my thumbs in my pockets and rocked back. "You good?"

Wufei smiled then and nodded. "Yes, Maxwell. I am 'good.'"

"Good." He did seem to be all right, or at least I couldn't see any blatant not-all-right-ness. We started off to our cars, parked close to the building thanks to our illustrious positions in Preventors. "So. Some of the Gods of Pestilence's little demon friends."

Wufei rolled his eyes. And smiled. "Yes, I suppose. What would you call those, Maxwell?"

I shrugged. "I guess... Oneiroi."

Wufei stopped and turned to me. "What?"

"Those were assistants of Morpheus, you know?" I stopped, too, even though my car was just across the driveway. "They were underlings, just, you know, for the God of Dreams. Not Pestilence." I frowned. "That's probably not a good name, though, because I like dreams-"

"Maxwell, how do you know about that?"

I rolled my eyes. "I like mythology. It's fun." I ignored the man and crossed to my car. "And just for you to know, I knew about this stuff for forever. As soon as I learned that Sister Helen's God wasn't the only one, I wanted to know about the others, to see what made Sister Helen's so special." I waved and unlocked my car.

Wufei moved to his own car. "Maxwell, you will only continue to surprise me."

"Hey, 'Fei! That's my job!" I grinned and pulled the door open, turning to shine my smile on him. "I'm supposed to surprise people, remember..." My voice dwindled as Wufei reached for the handle on his door. Under Wufei's car, in the darkness of the shadow, a tiny red light was blinking. "'Fei!" I screamed, already running.

Wufei was already turned to me and froze, waiting for me to tell him of the danger.

"Bomb!" I shouted, and grabbed his free hand. He was already letting go of the door, and as soon as he was free, I pulled him away, back to the middle of the drive, away from the car as quickly as I could.

And an explosion threw us both to the ground.

* * *

I felt fire.

It was cataloged before I understood how I knew, and with it a count of injuries – the back of my head; possible concussion. Back. Arms. Hands.

Shit. My hands were hurting.

That would make it difficult to handle my gun.

I reached for it, felt a slight shifting in my head as my fingers encountered a holster. Holster? Shouldn't it be hidden? But I pulled it out and shifted my attention elsewhere, already knowing no hostiles were nearby. For the first time, I recognized a weight covering me. Debris? But it was moving. Breathing.

My mind snapped back together then. Wufei. The bomb.

Wufei.

I dropped my gun then and reached for him, opening my eyes. There certainly was fire; a veritable plume of smoke filled the air. I could see flames all around me. Pieces of Wufei's car were by my left, above me. Everywhere, and they were on fire, a couple starting to only smolder. It almost seemed like too much, like it was more than it should have been. Everything was fuzzy, though. My ears were ringing still.

Wufei groaned.

"'Fei! 'Fei, answer me if you can!" I focused my damn attention and gasped. Wufei's back was on fire. I put it out with my hands, not having much else. Thank God it was only a tiny flame. It hadn't had the time to grow. A spark fire, then. I looked Wufei over then, touching his head and his neck. Nothing. He'd landed on top of me, his head on my chest. My head, I could tell, had hit the driveway. I was probably bleeding.

Wufei's leg and arm had shrapnel in them, the one in the leg worse the the one in his arm. The bleeding was fairly minor, and would be until the things were taken out. They didn't hit anything vital. Fairly minor. Good.

But then why wasn't he waking up?

"Maxwell."

I let out a shuddering breath. "Jesus, 'Fei, you scared the shit outta me."

He grunted and tried to get up. And hissed as he moved his arm and leg.

"Careful," I said, though it was a little late for that. "Your right arm and left leg have been punctured, and your back's received burns." Best not to tell him he'd been lit like a candle. One I'd sacrificed the safety of my hands for.

"And you?"

"Haven't checked yet." I did now, crossing over the inventory I'd initially made. Wufei tried to get up as I did so; I grabbed his waist and pushed him up. My left arm hurt, though not horrifically; probably another piece of shrapnel. My head felt like it'd been cracked open, and my vision was just blurry enough to get me worried. My back felt like I'd jumped out of a car. There was a different kind of burn to worry about, then.

For the most part, though, I'd say we'd gotten insanely lucky.

"Maxwell."

Wufei's voice sounded much more afraid now than before. I reached for my gun again, this time grabbing it up from the ground. "What is it, 'Fei?"

"You're bleeding. Badly." And Wufei made to touch my head.

"No. No touchie." I shooed his hand away with my good arm and felt a pain in my palms. Good. Pain meant no nerve damage. I wondered if the worst of the pain was from trying to catch my fall or trying to save Wufei. "Enemies?"

But Wufei didn't have his weapon in his hand and he was shouting to the left of me. I turned my gaze without moving my head. I couldn't see anything but smoke, but Wufei didn't change his gaze. We were right outside of Preventors, I remembered very, very belatedly. It wouldn't be likely that a car bomb would go unchecked.

I sighed. That was good, then. Of course, one could question how car bombs were put on said cars when they were just outside of the Preventor building, but hey. Beggars can't be choosers.

"'Fei."

Wufei turned back to me immediately. If I'd needed to know just how bad it looked, he'd just answered the question. "What is it, Maxwell?"

"You guys definitely need trainers like me, huh?"

Wufei blinked. "What?"

It made me chuckle, though the vibration of my head against the ground hurt like a son of a bitch. "We're right out here and we got bombed. Stupid bastards."

Wufei choked out a surprised laugh. "Maxwell, even now..." He shook his head. "I need to move you."

I frowned, but it was true. If we stayed and the gas tanks blew – which they couldn't have, since we were still alive – we would be cooked. "Fine."

I whined piteously when Wufei pulled my head up, and though I tried to help – really I did – the world just kind've spun and I found my feet unwilling to support me. Wufei didn't complain, though, only pulling my arm over his shoulders and hoisting me up and hobbling away. We entered the smoke, and then there was someone on my other side. I made to pull away, to raise my gun, but Wufei shouted "ally!" and I let the person take my gun from me and haul me up on my other side.

The world seemed to fuzz into gray, and I knew unconsciousness couldn't be far behind. Why the fuck was I the one more injured, here? I think I asked that, but I couldn't tell if I got a response from anyone. The world swung to black.

* * *

It didn't take me long to wake up again, but the doctors didn't seem pleased with my progress. I heard them shout for something and sighed. "I'll go," I mumbled, and let myself slip down into black again. If I didn't have to be awake yet, I didn't want to be, anyway.

* * *

This time when I woke up, the doctors were gone from my immediate vision. My head was throbbing with my heartbeat, a sweet, loud little thrum. I recognized the heart monitor and the dripping of the IV unit. Yay. The hospital again. Maybe one of my old nurses would be checking on me again. They should put a name plate on one of these beds for me.

"Duo!"

"Yuy, stop shouting!"

I turned my head to the side and looked out the door. I couldn't see anything but the wall, but it wouldn't be long now. Certainly I could call out to him, but why spoil all the fun?

It really didn't take much time at all. Heero was coming through the door, effectively ruining any plans of surprise when it came to his recovery, and his eyes went straight to me, ignoring Wufei's attempts at calming him. He ran straight to my bed. "Duo!"

"Hey, Heero." I grinned at him, then at Wufei. He looked so put-out. "Hey, 'Fei. How are you?"

"Second-degree burns, two puncture wounds." He shrugged and leaned against the jamb of the door. "I believe I fared rather well. You have a concussion and four stitches in the back of your skull, along with minor burns and lacerations along your extremities. Our cars are totaled."

I scowled. "Both of them?"

"They both blew."

I blinked at that one, then turned to Heero. He looked like he'd seen better days, too. That crazy hair of his was askew. Idiot. I reached up and grabbed a lock of it. "Yuy, what happened to you staying in the house?"

"What the hell happened to 'see you soon'?" He was already touching, running a hand through my bangs, down my cheek, across my shoulder. "How's your eyesight? Your hearing?"

I took stock, but I was already sure. "I'm fine. Heero, you're trembling."

"Of course I am, you idiot!" But Heero took a deep breath and sighed it out. Wufei seemed content to simply watch, his eyes somehow soft as he gazed on us. "I got the call from Une, but she told me to damn well wait, that she would get in touch with me, that I shouldn't rush out..." He grit his teeth. "I waited two full damn hours, so don't you talk to me about staying in the house or trembling or anything else."

Two full hours? It was a record. I let go of his hair then and turned to Wufei. "So what're we gonna do? It's Friday. We're supposed to go after Femorel tomorrow. And it's not like we can wait now."

"No. The attack probably means they're after us." Wufei pushed himself up off the door and came to stand by us. Heero's hands slid to mine and clasped until our fingers were intertwined. "We have to do something before they come at us again."

I nodded, then sat up. Heero grabbed my shoulders as my heart monitor jumped. "Quatre? Trowa? Has anything happened to them?"

"Does anything ever happen to them?" Wufei asked, and my surprise gave Heero the edge needed to get me flat on the bed again. "They're fine, Maxwell. And you will be, too, so Yuy can stop babying you. You'll be dizzy, and your balance will be off. You're out of the fight tomorrow."

"What?" I tried to get up again, but Heero was having nothing of it. I glared at him. "You can't." I glared at Wufei. "You can't! You're going to do this shit on your own?"

Then I saw it. Something dangerous in their eyes, something they knew I didn't want to hear. I felt something curl in my gut, something that made that damn heart monitor jump again. They shared a look – that old partners look. I watched it with narrowed eyes. Heero was saying he should say it. Wufei was giving some sort of warning. Heero lifted his chin slightly, but I couldn't tell if it was acknowledgment or something else.

"Spit it out, you two."

They both turned back to me, but Heero was the one with the determination in his jaw. "Duo... I had Wufei contact Zechs."

Oh.

_Oh._

Oh, _hell_, no.

I shook my head. "Heero, tell me you didn't."

"We'll be meeting up with him at 0800 tomorrow. Greaves will be keeping up with us, but he'll stay in the shadows."

"Heero, you can't be serious."

But those eyes of his weren't flinching. "Duo. We need all the help we can get. And since you can't come with us-"

"No. No, Heero! You can't – with that motherfu-"

"Maxwell, stay down." Wufei leaned onto the bed and pushed me down again. I shoved against his hand, but Wufei hadn't been kidding about the dizziness or the balance, and I couldn't help but fall back again. I struggled to keep my eyes on Heero. "Maxwell. Look at me."

"Duo, I need to make sure this is taken care of. I need all the manpower I can get." I couldn't believe Heero was saying the words. Those lips of his were moving, but my brain was stuck. My vision spun.

"Heero, that man wants to fight you. All he wants to do is fight you!"

"But I trust his desire to stop Femorel." Those lips were firm. Those eyes were hard. He truly was going to do this.

I couldn't speak.

"Maxwell, it's only for this battle." Wufei seemed to want to get in-between us, to break off the betrayed stare I was giving Heero. Neither of us moved. Heero wasn't backing down – I couldn't even see any remorse. The bastard thought he was making the right decision.

Logically... militarily... he was.

But right now, this wasn't about tactics.

"Heero, you know he'll fight you, don't you? After everything's over, he'll want to fight you."

"I'll deal with that when it comes." The bastard jumped on my argument like he'd been waiting for it. So he'd considered Zechs attacking him afterward? Had he considered how injured he may be then? Did he consider how _I_ would feel, pathetically helpless, waiting at the house, twiddling my damn thumbs, doing _nothing_? How dare he.

"Maxwell-"

"Wufei, you can't be for this!" I turned to him, desperate for someone to start making sense.

"Maxwell." And I saw in his eyes the last shred of hope in me die. "I'm the one who insisted."

* * *

A/N: It's a little short, but how could I not leave you all with another pretty cliffy? ^_^


	14. One Last Run

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing? Sure, it's mine. And also you're stupid.

* * *

Sub Rosa

Chapter 14

One Last Run

* * *

None of use said anything as I was led back to the house, all of us cramming into Heero's car and me practically being dragged into the building. They were infinitely gentle as they placed me on the couch, each asking me if I was all right. I nodded, and then the conversation was gone once more.

Greaves was there, coming out from the kitchen and watching me glare at the floor. The carpet, a normal, boring beige, did not distract me from my thoughts, nor did it distract me from Wufei and Heero's silent conversation. There were a few things from the whole Harlow thing that I could look back at and smile. That was not one of them.

Logically. Logically, Heero's and Wufei's decision made complete sense. Join the potential ally, especially when you know all of the risks and have already accounted for them.

I think half of my problem was how damn logical it was.

It was late; the sun had been just an orange dot between the houses when I'd been brought in. Heero was going back to the kitchen and stopped to murmur something to Greaves, carefully keeping his lips from my eyesight. It annoyed me enough to make me send a half-hearted glare at his back. Greaves caught it and grinned.

Wufei got me to lean back, though I rolled my eyes at the pampering. He grabbed the sofa pillows and billowed them all behind my head and demanded I close my eyes and rest, since I shouldn't have left the hospital until the morning at earliest. I'd at least been able to let them know my opinion on that subject – you know, in my usual fashion. By flipping them the bird and ripping the IV out.

Then Wufei was leaving for the kitchen – for Heero, for another damn one-on-one session – and Greaves and I were left alone.

"Were you a part of this?" I asked, not bothering to open my eyes or sit up or express even the slightest bit of my fury. It was probably all in my voice, anyway.

"No."

I did turn my gaze to him then. He was staring down at me with no inflection on his face whatsoever. I quirked him a grin. "Hatched it up on their own, huh?"

"Your friends are strange." He looked over to the kitchen, to where I could hear a pot clink onto the stove. Someone turned on the water. "I believe they want to protect you, but they have such strange ways of doing it."

"Fucking mother hens," I muttered, then closed my eyes and sat up. The world really did spin, and I almost toppled back. Greaves gave me a hand and wisely kept silent until my struggle was over. "They're going out with that rat bastard. They're deliberately making the hit a thousand times harder by relying on that man."

"I'm certain they've already considered the possibility of betrayal," Greaves said, most likely trying to make me feel better. He failed. "Besides. If something does happen, I will be there."

Now that one _did_ work. A little.

I held my head steady then as the world tilted and turned to pixels in my vision. A tiny little part of me – like my stomach – roiled with nausea. Gods, head injuries sucked. "Just try to keep the dumbasses alive, would ya?"

I couldn't tell, what with the world pulling in and out like a camera with a broken focus, but I thought Greaves could be smirking. "Of course."

I smelled Hamburger Helper. My stomach growled. "Listen, Greaves. In all seriousness."

"Yes?"

I clutched at something in me and glared through the fuzziness to latch my gaze onto the man's face. "I want to ask you to do something for me."

* * *

Heero gave me a communication link before he left.

Wufei stayed over, and the two took shifts while I slept through the worst of my injury and to hell with the whole 'concussion' thing. I woke up in the morning with no problem, therefore giving them all the reassurance they needed that they could head on out. Quatre and Trowa arrived before dawn, and they all talked for a bit about what they would do. They got onto Heero's laptop and looked at the information on the main building Femorel owned. Zechs came at seven and stayed downstairs. Greaves was out of sight.

And then Heero came over to me. Neither of us said anything, but he pushed my bangs from my face and I grabbed his outstretched hand and we looked at each other and we understood what we were saying. He was telling me he would return. I was telling him I loved him despite how much of an ass I thought he was being. Unsmiling, we parted, the communication link safely transferred to my hand.

I put the thing on and struggled up from the couch I'd slept on last night.

Computer.

If I was going to be trapped in the damn house while my friends – and the fucker – risked their lives, then I would damn well do what I could from here. And that meant getting to the computer.

Okay, so as a street rat and as a Gundam pilot, I am well versed in the language of pain. I understand it. That doesn't mean suddenly I can walk straight when the world's at a forty-five degree angle. So I earned a few more experiences with my old friend pain on my journey to Heero's laptop.

And after all this, when Heero found me on his computer, I would probably earn a few more.

They were heading out on a two-hour drive and were passing the time with plans, back-up plans, and back-up plans for the back-up plans. Quatre was leading the conversation, going over the strategies for chances of failure. I listened with half an ear as I turned on Heero's computer.

I keyed in his password, one long-memorized from our days in the war – he'd never changed it, the twit, but probably because he'd never learned that I'd broken in – and clicked straight into the files Heero had already found. The screen was already giving me a headache, and the words were small and dancing and hard to make out, but I narrowed my eyes and focused. I had two hours to reread all of the information. Maybe if I could at least look at the blueprints or find cameras or something, I could at least provide support.

Damn, I hated waiting on the sidelines.

By the time I heard them start to move into position – Heero and Zechs alone in the back, probably because Zechs wasn't happy that Heero had found a loophole in his demand to have the two of us separated – and the other three moving to their own separate places, I had a little hacked security grid on Heero's screen. Quatre murmured a quiet, "in position," and it made me stop and think for a second. Poor Une had to have made Trowa and Quatre honorary members of Preventors or something. Was there a such thing as honorary members? Well, in any case, it had to be a special case for her to continue allowing us to move with them when they had no affiliation with the justice department.

Then they were all moving in, busting in at once, Wufei taking the approach I would've taken, up through the maze of ventilation ducts and garbage dumps. Wufei wasn't the best for the job, but the group had needed to make a quick change, and Trowa, though acrobatic, would be too big. Wufei was puny enough to get through. If it weren't necessary to be quiet, I would tease him for it.

I heard guns through the link then and had to hold my breath. Heero was fighting now. He was fighting and I was uselessly hanging onto his desk for dear life while the world tilted. I glared at the screen. Cameras were showing Heero and Zechs, both standing right next to one another, unwilling to show the other their back, and they were the ones taking fire. Quatre and Trowa were heading inside, temporarily out of range of the cameras. Three men were heading to them to check the other doors.

I turned on my speaker. "Qat. Tro. Three on your one."

There was a gasp or two, then, "I see you do not know how to stay away, Agent Maxwell."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, voice sweet. "I'm no where near Heero right now. You are, though. And the two of you should grab cover. Another five, but then the place looks clear. I'm trying to find more visuals."

"Duo," Heero said then, even as they did as I said, "are you on my laptop?"

"Who, me? Didn't you know I had an ethernet jack up my ass? I'm a walking, talking computer!" There weren't many other damn cameras to find, but I did find an audio console and dipped into that. A tinny voice was sending out commands, and I listened in.

"Idiot," Wufei said.

"There are only three floors," Quatre muttered. "They'll be coming at us for real as soon as we try to go up."

"They're already coming after you," I said, still listening. A leaden monster was crawling up my throat. "They're sending out the predecessor."

"Already," Heero said, and someone snorted. I didn't recognize it, so it was probably Zechs.

"Only one?" Zechs asked.

We were all silent for a time then. Only one? That meant they had more. Both really were there. That meant serious danger.

"Direct the domino," the audio transmitter declared randomly, the voice carrying a slight lisp. I struggled to follow Trowa's and Quatre's progress up the stairs. The cameras were old, filmy, practically useless. Yet the place was supposedly high-tech as shit. That meant something. I needed to figure out _what_ it meant.

Damn, my head was pounding like shit.

"We have a lure. Repeat, we have a lure."

"Drop the line."

The fishing references were coming from the audio now, and I focused on that as colors scattered and bled together. I put my forehead on the cool desk and panted. Shit.

"Drag him down. They seem to be engaging on the first and second."

"Stop them from coming up!"

There were moving pictures, signals. And the damn messages... I slammed a hand on the desk and glared at the screen, the pain granting me some clarity. Quatre and Trowa were engaged with a red-haired guy, Heero and Zechs a man with a limp green couldn't see much more about them than their hair.

"Wufei, they're hiding something up there, and they're planning something. Laying bait for... something." I ground my teeth together, then bit down on my left hand. More pain, thank goodness, and I was replaying the enemies' words. Through the screen, I saw Trowa duck around a bend in the wall, beyond which only a piece of his hair could be seen from a separate camera. He was reloading. Quatre grabbed his shoulder and stumbled.

I leaned forward on the desk and snarled. "Quatre."

Heero and Zechs were faring much better, really, though they both seemed about ready to pull their guns on one another. Zechs' hair took over the better part of the security camera's lens as he turned and ducked in one quick ballet-type move, firing. The enemy leaped off the wall and went for Heero, who backed up and dodged, firing himself.

The visuals sucked! I felt like I was in the damn 21st century or something, struggling with snapshot cameras. Why did they suck so bad? Weren't these guys super-scientists or something? I watched Grainy Heero reload as Zechs took over the battle and gasped as it just _clicked_.

They'd known.

"Is it ready?"

"Yes. The shark has taken the bait."

The phone rang.

I gasped again and turned, jumping slightly. "Then bring him here," the audio continued, and something shivered up my spine. Something felt very wrong. Heero shouted that he was ready and I saw Zechs start reloading as Heero shouted something and fired. Quatre shouted to Trowa, Trowa yelled Quatre's name, and suddenly the earpiece squealed in my ear. I winced and instinctively ducked, throwing my balance off. I landed on the floor.

The house phone kept ringing.

I got up by biting my lip and just pushing myself up, and then I staggered my way down the stairs, using the banister as a lifeline until I was on the bottom floor and pushed my way to the living room phone. "Hello?" I gasped. Some monster was clawing underneath my skull.

"Mr. Maxwell?"

I turned the speaker off as dread washed through me. I heard Zechs mutter something unintelligible, and then Heero cried out. Something inside me staggered.

"Mr. Maxwell, are you still there?"

"I-I... yes." I closed my eyes and ran a hand through my bangs. Gun. I needed my gun.

No. Greaves would take care of Heero. He promised.

"You said you wanted to be kept updated?"

Finally I recognized the man's voice. From the mental hospital.

Jesus. Jesus, no way. The lead snake was back in my throat, slithering down to my gut. "Yes," I said, and heard the breathiness in my voice. The poor doctor must be thinking I was having a heart attack.

"Are you all right, Mr. Maxwell?"

"Yes," I said, replying a bit too quickly, and finally just snarled. "What is it, doc?"

"It's Carn. He's escaped."

That lead snake just fucking chomped on my gut and swallowed it whole. A startling sort of clarity broke through the fog and pain. Carn was out. Lure. Line. Shark.

"_Then bring him here."_

Heero.

"Which way?" I snapped, already running around, grabbing my gun and old hunting knives, hidden so deep in the closet I had to search by feel. The whole time the bastard was silent.

"Hey! I'm in the Preventors, remember?" Best not to say he wasn't an active agent at the moment. "Now give me directions, information, anything you think pertinent." I rushed to Heero's laptop and glared at the filmy screen. I couldn't see shit now; they were all moving too quickly for me to follow with such poor quality.

So the man gave me info and I snatched my wallet and looked around. I didn't have a ride, but that was okay. Carn might have been heading for Femorel, but he would be heading to me soon enough. I already had a plan.

"Thank you for calling me. You definitely did the right thing." With that, I hung up and turned my speaker on. "Guys, they knew you were coming. Got me? They knew."

"Duo?"

Heero. The bastard heard something in my voice. I watched his grainy self pause. "Don't fucking stand there, dumbass!" I had to rely on Greaves. I had to leave Heero's safety in Greaves' hands and protect my Asian friends. I needed to make sure Carn never got to them. I didn't want Carn eating off the arm of someone important to me.

I had to trust my family to not get killed.

With Zechs there on the line, too, I was hesitant to say anything, but finally I said, "I'll believe in the end," and turned the speaker off again. Heero called for me again, sounding a little panicked. Shit, the man was smart.

Then I was on the computer, hacking through the audio shit and hooking it to the recording device on Heero's computer. I jacked the volume as high as it would go and shouted, "Carnie! Remember me?" I didn't wait for an answer. "I do believe I told you before that I wasn't letting you get out of your little rat cage. So what're ya doing trying to sneak out? And without saying hello to me!"

I slid my sleeves up and hooked my knife holsters to each arm. "Can you hear me, Carnie? D'you wanna come say hi?" I latched my knives into place and holstered my gun at my hip. I could hear something from the other end, but I couldn't make it out. I'd stopped any other audio flow from coming or going, knowing the loss of communication would slow the enemy down a bit. It was all I could do. "Well? Aren't you gonna say hi?"

I felt vaguely sick, knowing what I was goading Carn into doing, but the man who'd freed him had brought a monster into the daylight. As a soldier, I understood the need to kill in order to save. Probably more than most.

I heard the sounds of ripping and tearing then, and a gurgle that told me where Carn had aimed. I had to close my eyes to keep the bile down.

"Japanese."

The man's hiss came through Heero's speakers then, and I could fucking _see_ him in my mind, head shaved and tongue lolling out like a dog's. "That's right," I said, forcing my voice calm and sweet. Mocking. I had to mock this guy. "Do you know where I am?"

"I'll get you. And Japanese. And Arab and China. I want them all. All of it down my throat."

I shivered. "Yeah? That'll be pretty hard, I think. I've hidden them."

The man hissed. "I was told Japanese was there for me."

I snarled. That was the goddamn bait? What the hell had happened at the hospital? The doctor had only mentioned that Carn had found a way to bust open his door. That had obviously not been true. But had the man really just walked out without tearing the building to pieces? I hadn't been able to imagine such a thing. Now I knew why. He had a bigger goal in mind. "Not _my_ Japanese."

"I'll get my meat!" Something splattered onto whatever he was using to communicate. My mind supplied an image of brain matter on a walkie-talkie and I had to breathe through my mouth. "I'll get real food! And them! I will get all who put me in there. Damn fucking drugs!"

"You mean the doctors? They're dead." I thought quick. "I killed them."

The man screeched.

That was it. The man was mine.

"Pissed, little man? Angry that I took it from you? You'll never get what you want, hear me? I'll always be there, one step ahead."

Another inhuman scream, and then the man was silent. I waited, tapping my finger on the desk.

"I know where you are," he said after a time, and another small splat hit the airwaves. "I'll get you. I'll find you. You're mine!"

"I'll be waiting at the park, fucker."

And I signed off and headed out.

* * *

It took him a bit, but considering he'd been in the state over, I wasn't all that surprised. At least it gave me time to scope out the immediate area, to memorize the trees and bushes on the edge of the park grounds. I'd already gotten the place cleared out, too, by authority of the almighty Preventors badge.

I'd listened with frozen lungs through the communication link still in my ear as the others fought, as Wufei made it to the top level and muttered a Chinese curse. Heard Trowa shout in denial and shoot until he ran out of clips. Listened as Zechs called out terse orders. Listened as Heero didn't make any noise at all. Listened to them start to pack it up, calling out orders, and heard Trowa saying something, telling someone to hurry, shouting for the back-up, and then there was noise from everywhere, and I knew Une's men had gone in, which meant that the two predecessors had been dealt with. Wufei started handing out orders then, and I had to tune it out because I couldn't hear Heero.

I was ready when the man came from behind, the only thing giving him away being his body odor. Man hadn't gotten his bath that day, obviously. Had he run half the way? And immediately after I noticed his BO, I smelled blood, and a lot of it. I stared at it and doubted it was from only one person. Jesus.

"You!" He jumped at me, hands extended like claws, and I pulled out my gun. Did the man not have any other weapons? But that would be stupid. He was Qat's predecessor. He had to know how important guns were.

And as I thought, he pulled out a gun and a taser, holding one in each hand. I crouched. Shit. My eyesight was going screwy again, caught by the dancing light of the taser as Carn played with it.

And I was in the park's forest. Where I'd fought Greaves. That was bringing back some bad memories.

Carn began the battle with a snarl and a lunge, one I turned to dodge. The world played a funny little game, but adrenaline kept my focus sharp, and when Carn turned to me I had a knife in my left hand and swung it out. He both jumped away before we got hurt.

Carn's battle stance was unlike any I'd seen, his back slumped and arms hanging like a gorilla. Those dark eyes glittered like space.

"Duo, we're coming out," Wufei said, speaking into the communication link. I wanted to listen. I wanted to hear. But Carn was cartwheeling over to me and I had to blank out Wufei's words to avoid the taser. I pulled out my gun and fired, taking the chance to jump back. The man took the bullet to his right arm like it was a pinprick and grinned.

"Guns, guns, always spoil the meat." The man grinned. "But you aren't good. Too white, pink not yellow." He twirled his gun with his bad arm. "I won't eat you, no, but I want it and you have it."

The man really was thin, tiny, and there was no way that bullet had missed muscle, had even hit the bone. The bastard shouldn't be acting as if he was uninjured. "And Winner has taken two bullets, one to his left collarbone, the other to his right kidney."

I heard Wufei's words. Had I missed Heero's condition? How was he? What was Zechs doing?

No time! I had to just bear with not knowing. I reached up to get rid of the damn earpiece when I heard a random gunshot through the speaker. Wufei yelped. "Merquise, what in hell – stop!"

And another gunshot blared through the speakers.

"You aren't watching me?" And Carn wrenched the earpiece from me and shoved the taser into my gut.

* * *

A/N: Okay! Everyone, I'm SO sorry! If I haven't told you, my motherboard crashed. Completely. And when I sent it in to be fixed, it took them a month to realize, hey, the motherboard we bought to replace the old one isn't working, either. So I got a new computer, all expensive and everything. The repair people managed to save my hard drive, though, so I worked on this as soon as everything was up and running, and here it is, very late but all pretty and whatnot. I'm REALLY SORRY for the wait! Thank you all for waiting so patiently!


	15. Flat on the Floor

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing? Sure, it's mine. And also you're stupid.

* * *

Sub Rosa

Chapter 15

Flat On The Floor

* * *

I'd never known just how bright things got when a concussion was mixed with an electric shock.

Things got really sparkly and disco-y for a bit. And then they kind've pixelated, and I noticed that there was a sort of soundtrack going with the lights, moving in a sort of counterpoint. I was screaming. And there was laughter, really high-pitched, the kind one could only achieve with wide eyes. And I heard another voice, too, very low, almost swallowed by the crackle-pop of the electricity.

Finally the pain stopped and I fell like a rock to the ground. I curled into my stomach without conscious thought, even as the world tilted and whirled beneath my head, stuck in a dance of its own. I had to move. I knew I had to move.

"You sound Asian," I heard someone say, and the information slammed into my skull enough to have me reel again. Carn. Carn was talking to someone. Someone Asian. Who? My earpiece. He'd taken my earpiece. Wufei had been talking. Carn was talking to Wufei.

Bad. Bad!

I twisted and kicked, aiming for where I'd heard Carn's voice. My body jerked slightly, still reacting to the lightning frying my nerve cells, but I heard something clatter and Carn snarled before I flipped into a bridge position. I could see the green of the trees around us, the bright burst of blue from beyond. I could still hear that tinny voice from far away. Carn was there, a burst of peach and black and gray and white. Monochrome. I had to fight Monochrome Man.

He moved back from me, one arm up by his ear. He was hissing out a laugh, bending up and down over and over again like he was doing squats. "Asian. China. You're the China. Where?"

I ran to him, pulled out my second hunting knife. Where had my first knife gone? My gun? My limbs kept bucking, snapping. How the hell long had that thing been on me? Bastard!

"Yes, he's here. I'm here. What about me?" Carn easily dodged my first strike and laughed at me. I could see a bit more, could see the short little beard growing through neglect, saw those devil eyes watching me.

I had to use this time wisely. He was talking to Wufei through the earpiece, absorbed in the fun of speaking to his prey... or whatever. But when he tired of the game, he would want to start the chase. And I had to be able to stop him.

"No. Americans hard. Fat. Asians are a thousand times better, juicy." And Carn cackled. "You? Yes. You would be good. Tasty, like a baby bird."

Fucking bald bastard! I gritted my teeth. The pain was enough to get my head on straight, at least, and now that the forest was no longer putting on a ballet show, I might actually be able to shank the bastard instead of lodging my knife in a tree.

"Japanese? Do I hear Japanese?"

Oh, God. Heero.

The man grinned like a snake. "Come. Yes. I'll make a dessert for you." And Carn looked at me. "It'll taste great, like cheeks." (1)

The man didn't wait for any more responses, simply crunching the earpiece and tossing it away. I watched his hands as he came slowly back to me. Where the hell had _his_ gun gone?

My stomach jumped and snapped. "Wait a fucking minute," I gasped finally, as adrenaline and fear made my brain jump back into the past – back to a phone call I'd received from Greaves. Hadn't Greaves said Carn had fucking _died?_

I jumped back as Carn charged like a bull, then swerved right and low to keep that taser away from me. I didn't have time to wonder about how Mr. Ate-Himself returned from the grave. Or how a doctor had known he was alive and had called. I had to roll back, scraping my braid along the ground, and hop back from Carn's kick. Carn chased after me, grinning like the goddamn Cheshire Cat.

But seriously, what the fuck?

I ducked under Carn's swing and sliced up with my knife, twisting around and heading behind the man when he countered to slice again at his back, this time getting a good, deep gash. That was definitely real blood I was seeing, and it was most certainly real muscle underneath spasming. Carn turned without a sound of distress and kicked off toward me. I had to use a tree as a shield to evade.

"I heard Japanese. I heard him." I ducked low and turned back toward Carn, but had to jump away as the flash of electricity filled my vision. "He's coming to me."

My breath whooshed out of me then, and I stumbled just enough for Carn to get too close. I caught his left wrist and pushed that taser away from me, but Carn just twisted around and pushed me back with his shoulder. I held on steady to his wrist and fumbled on my footing. He punched me once, twice in the stomach, and this time my breath was gone for real.

I wasn't made for close-quarters battles like Heero and Wufei. My focus was on keeping that damn electricity away from my body. My legs buckled underneath me, and Carn leaned over me as my knees slammed into the dirt and grass. His grin never wavered.

I reached up and bit the man's throat.

With a roar he wrenched back, swinging his arms so wildly I had to bend back and lay down on my lower legs in order to avoid his limbs. I pushed up with my arms and got myself onto my hands, launching backwards in an awkward flip. Carn followed with a bellow. I barely managed to block before he rammed into my chest. I dug my heels in, but my stand was pushed, until one of my feet bumped into a root and my balance was lost.

I was hardly on the ground before the taser was back, and this time it didn't go away. I felt my back arch into a bow, felt my blood boil in my veins, and heard a crackling worse than Deathscythe breaking apart. Something smelled like smoke. The world popped into color, then blanked into white.

* * *

Stupid. I'd been stupid, and I hadn't been able to grab Shinigami in time. It was all that swam in my head, how stupid I'd been. Heero would kill me. Heero would rip me a new one.

Heero. Heero was coming, and he was going to meet with Carn. Mr. Asian Eater. Mr. Survives Death. Heero was meeting Mr. Regeneration who said cheeks tasted good. Not good. That was not good.

I took stock of myself and wanted to curse. I was on the ground, I could tell because I felt distinctly horizontal, and a dizziness kept turning the world around over and over again. And Carn was making weird-ass noises – or I hoped that was Carn – over to my seven. I couldn't hear anything else yet. Good. I still had some time.

I had to ignore the danger Heero was throwing himself into. I had to ignore my pain. The pain that, right now, was making it impossible for me to move as I wanted. My body was trapped in twitching spasms. But that was because I was aware of the pain. I had to become Shinigami – I had to get rid of my fears and my agony and just become Shinigami.

But Jesus, it _hurt_. Nothing hurt like an electric shock. Nothing.

It was a slow process, not the automatic thing it should have been, and half of that was the ripples of electricity bolting through my nerve system, but the other half was the knowledge that I probably didn't have much time, that Heero would be showing up soon. Stupid Heero. Stupid, not-dead dead guy. Stupid lying doctors. Stupid us for not burning the bastard's corpse.

Then the Venom grin was on my face and I was swinging up from my prone position, and before Carn could come get me, I ran around a tree and hid. Talk about a sense of deja vu. Was this the same damn tree I'd hidden behind when fighting Greaves?

"Bastard," Carn hissed, and his voice echoed a bit through the trees. Still I calculated his whereabouts and ducked as that taser swung around the trunk of the tree. I snapped a hand up and back, catching his wrist and smacking it against the bark. The taser fell, and as it did I swung around and backfisted the man.

No reaction. _Again_, no reaction! His head turned a bit from the impact, but he'd already grabbed my hand and pulled it over my head. I tried to twist free, but my body convulsed and slumped, and he simply threw me against the tree and leaned it. I barely managed to twist my head from any attack and felt shimmers thrum through my body. Shit. Shinigami or not, I just couldn't get past the electricutions. I could only hang there in Carn's grasp as he used his free hand to push against my collarbone and lean into my neck. He sniffed deep. "American," he whispered. "Nasty, chunky Easterner. When will he get here?"

He was waiting for Heero to show up. That was right. Hadn't I heard him say something about bait? Bait. He'd fucked up, and he was too weak, and he was going to be bait. Fuck.

"Want the taser. Wanna hear the scream." He grinned. "Not as fun as eating, but it'll have to do, right?" Just a little longer, and I'd be able to move again. I could get out of this. The dumbass hadn't immobilized me. I could still fight. Carn bit my neck and pounded my head into the tree. "Right?"

"Go to hell." I reached up with my free hand and grabbed my man's throat, taking a deep breath and heaving against his weight. My hand shook and trembled, but it obeyed my order.

Those black eyes widened until white encircled the darkness. Carn's hand clenched around the one still trapped and twisted it. I shouted in pain, but I didn't let go, even when the pain in my hand warned me it would snap.

"Duo!"

I jerked, and just like that Shinigami left me as my fear jumped my heart to my throat. "Heero!" I wanted to shout, to warn him away, but my voice didn't want to work.

Carn pulled from me, trying to escape, and my hand slipped from his throat just enough that I knew he was able to breathe again. I used my other hand as he let it go, even as the bones seemed to move and my already-abused nerves informed me that Carn's hold had been very painful, thank you very much, and I latched on like a leech to his hand and dug in my heels.

Carn didn't seem human then as he turned on me, and I barely managed to get under his attack as he came at me. He grabbed my braid as I ducked and dragged me up and covered my eyes with his other hand, his short nails digging into my temples. Spots danced in front of my eyes and the back of my skull pounded in reaction. Fuck, that was right. Explosion concussion. I swallowed back my cry with sheer will, afraid for Heero to hear, and reached blindly for my enemy. My fingers tested air, clothing, skin. I wrapped my fingers around the last one and found my hands around a bicep. No good. In my position, I wouldn't be able to do anything. And I was out of time.

"Die," he said, and as if listening my nerves jerked and popped again, and limply my hand fell until I swung from his hands.

"Duo!"

I could tell before Carn cackled that Heero had arrived at the scene. Carn threw me to the ground. With a splatting sort of thunk, the back of my head hit the tree. I slumped as the baseball bat keeping rhythm with my heartbeat became a cinder block. I tried to stand and found myself sliding to the ground. My vision played in splotches of green and black and white. A lot of white.

"Duo! Damn you!"

I had to see him. Had to warn him. Stupid fucker. Carn was crazy enough without his favorite meal present. Even I could hear Carn's slobbering through the ringing in my ears. I had to get the fuck up. What was wrong with me? I'd been cut to ribbons during my fights with... with Greaves and fucking _everybody_. Getting such electric shocks as could power a good portion of a lightning bolt shouldn't be... okay, well, yeah, it should slow me down a good bit, but still. Heero...

I stretched my hand, tested the fingers, and found them shaking fit to be called palsy. Okay. Bad.

"Japanese. Japanese."

"Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

Heero was asking the enemy a question. He needed time, then. We were both idiots, not able to put on the soldier just because the one we loved was in danger. Idiots.

"Dead? No. No, no, I will never die. Not until all of you are dead, until I have your blood in mine, your skin on my teeth. You will taste good. Better than good."

"We were told you'd eaten yourself."

Heero. Idiot Heero was still talking. Why not just pull out your damn gun and shoot the fucker? But then my vision focused and I understood why, and my heart just fucking stopped. Injured. My Heero was injured, and badly. He'd taken a bullet to the thigh and it was still bleeding even now, or maybe coming here had opened it, and I could see so many holes in his Kevlar vest his entire body had to be soaked in bruises. His collarbone. Had it been fully healed? Heero?

I had to help. I had to _do_ something. I was less than useless right now, and that was unacceptable.

I searched around the tree, my hand bobbing in the grass like a float on water. If I could find the bastard's taser, then we might still have a chance in hell.

"Told? Good for you; don't care." I turned just as Carn charged, my head whirling and dipping at the motion. Heero reacted as I did, blinking for a half-second before moving, surprised by the strange attack, but he was a bit faster than me, smartass, and managed to turn on his one good leg before he knelt down, pulling his gun free and shooting Carn in the back.

And then he stood and came to me.

"Jackass," I gasped, "it's not that easy!"

The laugh that came from Carn's downed body was that of a demon's, a high-pitched keen that ended on a sort of Joker giggle. Heero swiveled around and planted himself between Carn and me. "He's not after me!" I snapped, but Heero wasn't listening, and Carn was creeping up again. The man was soaked in his own blood, yet he didn't seem to feel it at all. How? What the fuck?

Heero shot at the man again, but though he buckled, Carn just kept getting up. Another bullet had even less of a reaction. "I should be hitting his heart," Heero murmured, then hissed. "Situs inversus."

Carn's heart was on his right side, not his left. But shouldn't his lung have been hit?

"Situs ambiguus?" I asked out loud, and Carn moved down to the ground, sliding one leg out, and he was up, my gun in his hand. I cursed.

Heero ducked, but the gun wasn't aimed at him. I fell to the ground, crunching myself into the grass. A blade went up my nose, but the bullet missed.

"Fuck. He won't shoot you, Heero, he doesn't want–"

But Heero wasn't listening to me, pulling down over me and providing cover at the expense of himself. I smelled his sweat and blood.

The taser. Fucking hell, give me a goddamn weapon!

I leaned forward and swept my arm over the grass until my wrist clacked against metal and I turned my hand awkwardly to grab it. Carn was moving everywhere, giggling like a damn kid. Carn shot and Heero grunted, flailing on hand out to catch himself.

"Heero, _move_," I said, squirming around, taser in hand. "You're an open target."

"I'm not leaving you," was his reply.

We were fucking _stupid_.

"I'll kill you for this," I promised, even as my body shuddered and my vision blurred.

"My line," he said, and shot. "Fuck, you're right. He has heterotaxy. I'll just have to shoot him _everywhere_."

"Got enough bullets?" I gasped in a breath and begged for Shinigami one last time. I crushed my forehead to the dirt and just _begged_.

"Maybe."

Maybe. Well, that was reassuring.

"I'll take care of it," I said, and pulled on the mask with not a little pain and a fear that it wouldn't work. That I wouldn't become the God of Death. But I felt the grin pull up my lips and knew I had it.

I twisted from behind Heero, even as he shouted at me. I had to ignore that twinge of panic in Heero's voice and throw myself into the brush. Carn shot at me, then cursed and moved. Heero shot him again. Shouldn't, I thought, the bastard be bleeding out?

Heero was injured. Badly injured. Carn would focus on him, wouldn't care much if I ran. He would be aware of potential attacks, or at least places he thought they could come from. I couldn't underestimate the freak anymore; his insanity had made me forget for a time that he was Qat's predecessor. He would know what to do, how to fight. He'd already beaten my ass pretty thoroughly. I couldn't afford to have that happen again.

I heard Heero shoot again, but this time no gunshot answered. I'd been right. Carn wouldn't shoot his food. He wouldn't waste the meat.

I slid up into a tree and hopped the branches, careful of falling leaves and weak limbs. I could just barely make out Carn, around a tree on the opposite side and watching Heero. His body looked loose, completely out of order. He wasn't breathing heavily, but he was a bit lazier than he'd seemed before. Blood loss? Hopefully?

Or maybe he was that excited about his food source.

Okay. No thinking about that.

I had to jump from that tree to another to get the right angle, but I couldn't do it without attracting attention. But if I made my move now, I would most likely mess up. I wasn't the super-genius that Heero was; I couldn't sucker punch people in the exact right place in their gut to get them to fall unconscious. And I only had one chance.

I used a small breeze to rip off a piece of my shirt and wrap it tight around the taser, forcing the mechanism's switch to stay on. I turned the snapping prongs out from my body and prepared to jump.

Carn was the one to move first, and I felt a slip of panic before I clamped it down. Heero shot the man, but though he jerked and stumbled back, he didn't fall. Still not his heart.

I used the sound of the gunshot to launch myself from where I stood, grabbing out with my free hand to wrap around a branch. Carn heard, but I was already pulling myself up and hid behind the leaves as he looked for me. Heero shot again, laying cover fire, and Carn's attention went back to his Asian food.

A spasm slid through me then, crippling my aim. I bit my tongue. The pain gave me my short moment of clarity, and with shaking hands I grabbed at it, raising the taser and aiming, barely able to see through the haze of sparks in my vision. I couldn't afford to miss. I couldn't afford to fuck this up and become Heero's weakness.

Heero needed me, dammit!

I threw the thing and cursed as it started flipping too wildly, cartwheeling through the air. Carn turned as I slid to the ground, looking at me just before he caught sight of the taser, and he snarled. The man's eyes were black holes in his head, just like the sockets of a skull.

The only reason I knew it hit was because he didn't kill me right there.

"Heero! Now!"

I bit my lip then as I fell to my knees. Goddamn electric shock shit. Stupid body wasn't fucking listening to me. I wanted to stand up. Wanted to take Heero's side as he ran between Carn and me, as he raised his gun and Carn reached up for him, both moving almost too fast for my blurry eyes to see–

And with a bang, Carn dropped to the ground.

Heero stood, almost frozen, his feet planted beneath his shoulders and his arms outstretched, gun in hand. Then his bad leg buckled and he dropped his gun to the dirt. "Wufei, what's your ETA?"

I couldn't hear anything and wanted to curse Carn all over again for breaking my earpiece. Dickhead.

I fell to my side, unable to keep myself up anymore, and I just shook and bucked and went so still I couldn't tell if I was breathing.

"Duo!"

My eyes were still open, and I watched Heero come over to me. He checked my pulse, breathed a pained gasp of relief, and placed his hand under my nose. "He's not breathing," Heero said, and shouted. "Duo, don't you dare!"

He pushed my onto my back and lifted my chin, sweeping my bangs from my face. Oh, yeah. Now I could tell I wasn't breathing. My chest hurt.

Heero's mouth covered mine, and the heat of it seemed to snap my spine, but I felt air push into my throat and greedily accepted it. Heero called my name again when he pulled back, and then he was back, and the air shoved through to my lungs and I _felt_ it, felt the wave of oxygen. I started coughing like mad, and Heero rolled me to my side, patting my back and speaking something I couldn't hear through my hacking.

"He's breathing. Duo, what happened?"

"Taser," I panted, gulping down air like a drowning man. My hands curled into my chest and stomach, the two places Carn had gotten me. "Dead?"

"I got his brain."

I grunted. Guess when the man was busy being electrocuted, it was easier to aim for his fucking head. "Good."

"We're by the Greaves sight."

Greaves. That was right. I wanted to ask Heero if my mission to Greaves was necessary, if he'd needed to do as I'd asked of him. But I couldn't seem to talk much anymore.

"Duo. Do you think you have internal bleeding?"

I took another breath and shook my head. "No blood," I said, indicating the lack of copper on my tongue. I coughed bad enough to hack up the offending organs, though.

Once I finished coughing, Heero had me on my back again and ripped off my shirt. He looked at my torso and grimaced. His fingers traced the taser lines. "Jesus. How long?"

I breathed quick and deep. "Dunno. Blacked out both times."

I heard movement then and struggled from where I lay, but Heero pushed me down and shook his head, pointing to his communication link. "It's Wufei," he said quietly.

"Qat? Tro?"

"Quatre sustained minor injuries, but Trowa took a shot to the shoulder. I got my leg injured, but it's a clean wound. It should only take about a week or two to heal."

I chuckled weakly. "Freak."

He nuzzled my hair. "Your freak."

I grinned. "All mine."

"Oh, please tell me I'm not walking into your sappy love scene," Wufei said, slowing from his jog at the sight of us. He turned his gaze on me. "Maxwell, what the hell happened to staying in the house?"

"What happened to no long-haired assholes?" I shot back, glaring at each of them in turn.

Heero looked away from me. Something in his eyes told me Greaves had been needed, after all. "I'm sorry."

"Later," Wufei said, his voice gruff, and he knelt beside Heero, on my side. "What in the world happened?"

Heero was the one to give him the message while I just tried to get my breathing under control. My body was still thrumming with adrenaline, and I found myself unable to relax. I was still ready to fight.

Heero seemed to notice the tension on me and touched my shoulder. "Status?" he said quietly.

Wufei stopped speaking, too. "Clear."

I turned my gaze to him and let him drag me from the edge of the cliff. "Not in danger."

He smiled. "Not in danger," he said, giving his own status. "Then we'll commence clean-up. Those who are able to move, move. You, Duo Maxwell, however," he said, "are to rest."

I stuck my tongue out at him, but my teeth over the injured muscle made me sigh and nod. "Aye-aye."

And I closed my eyes and let Heero take over.

* * *

This would've been out sooner, but my brand-new computer decided to give me trouble, so I lost my weekend writing time. Evil, evil computer. One week old and already giving me trouble. Oi.

(1) That's right. I made a Hannibal reference. Mwahaha.


	16. Do This Anymore

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing? Sure, it's mine. And also you're stupid.

* * *

Sub Rosa

Chapter Sixteen

Do This Anymore

* * *

So of course they took my sorry ass to the hospital.

At least I was conscious for this trip. It was more than annoying to wake up in the place, and at least as an awake individual, I could safely say that I was more obnoxious much faster. The nurses recognized me by my braid, and they grabbed my file without needing my name. Now if that isn't enough to rile up any man's pride.

I distinctly remember saying I was perfectly fucking fine, and I also remember Heero talking over me, telling the nurses about how I hadn't been breathing and showing them the two wounds on my chest. I looked down. There wasn't much in the way of bruising, just the two sticks for the prongs and a thin line of red. The nurses said that was a good sign; that the lack of blood was good, too. I knew that. Heero should have known that.

Thankfully the nurses realized Heero was injured, too, and he was whisked away and I got the pleasure of sticking my tongue out at him as he was put into a wheelchair.

I suffered through a number of degradations, the least of which being one nurse's giggle when she had to undo my braid. She took way too long doing it. A doctor came in and twirled her pen in her hand as she went through my files. "Hello again, Mr. Maxwell. Do you like our company so much?"

"Yeah, yeah. Keep it up and I'm going to a different hospital."

The woman rolled her eyes and put the files down. "So it's shock trauma today, hm?" She went around checking the stats the nurses had gotten and made some notation. "Well, you seem all right enough, but your momentary respiratory failure is a concern."

"Gee, let me think," I said, rolling my eyes, "you'd like to keep me here overnight. You know. Just to be sure."

"Yes, that's about it." She clicked the pen and slid the clipboard onto the front of the bed. "We need to make sure that concussion of yours hasn't gotten any worse. Bear with it, please."

I rolled my eyes. "And the others?"

"The man who came in with you is in surgery now, getting the bullet removed."

"Quatre? Trowa? Wufei?"

She cocked her head, and I told her their last names. "Mr. Winner sustained a minor injury. Mr. Barton took the worst of it. He's in critical condition, but he should be fine. All vital organs were missed, thankfully. And Mr. Chang is also well, with minor injuries. Other than his leg wound, Mr. Yuy has severe bruising, but that's about it. I'm surprised his collarbone is doing as well as it is; it's still fine despite all the stress he put it under."

She left then with an order to be good, and I was left to my own devices.

His collarbone was all right, then? And he would be okay? My concern switched then to Trowa. It sounded like Trowa had taken a bad one. Would _he_ be all right? Quatre must be going crazy. Wish I could be there for him. The idiot would beat himself up over this. Kind've like me.

I smiled at that one and closed my eyes. Hospital lighting was just _not_ conducive to a good rest. And how the hell long would I be stuck there? Everything had been finished when the day had been ending, but that was only because Carn took his sweet-ass time arriving! It had to be no later than eight, even with all the women nurses giggling and yapping over me. I wanted out. I wanted to know what was going on with Heero. And Zechs. And Femorel. I hadn't been there to see any of it, and a part of me was still freaking out, thinking Heero and Wufei had left off finishing Femorel just to get back to me. I really, really hoped not.

I don't know how long I lay there, thinking all this stupid shit, worrying it over and over in my head, but finally someone entered my room. I cracked open an eye, almost expecting some family member for the guy lying still on the bed beside me, but then I smiled. "You look like shit."

"You should see the other guy."

I chuckled for him, the best I could do with my chest hurting through the painkillers. "It's all over?"

"Only if your battle is, too." Greaves closed the door behind him, obviously ready for some privacy.

"It is." I didn't want to think back on it too much, remembering all too vividly how many times I'd fucked up in that particular battle. "What happened with Femorel? With _Zechs?_"

Greaves grinned a little, then grabbed a chair and scooted it, not trying to be quiet. "Wouldn't you like to know how your friends are first?"

"Yes," I said immediately, and that damn grin widened. He really did look like shit, though; even his lips looked bruised.

"Your Wufei and Quatre are both well, though they are using their individual statuses to stay. They want to see you, but allowed me initial audience. Your Trowa is still in surgery, and the blond seems most distracted about it."

"They're close."

He tilted his head, acknowledging the words and saying he knew how close all in one movement. "Your Heero came out about an hour ago and is having his minor injuries checked out. He should be able to leave soon; he only needs slight bandaging, since the shot was clean."

I nodded, feeling something in me relax. "I should be fine, too," I told him, in case Greaves needed to tell the others. "It's all that overnight watch bullshit."

Greaves nodded, his eyes lingering on my chest. The nurses had left it unclothed, simply leaving me my pants and socks and cross. My hair was everywhere, too, and I suddenly felt a little self-conscious, having it undone in front of Greaves. He was a good friend, trusted. But he wasn't one of the pilots. "Femorel fell quickly after its Gundam pilot predecessors were taken out. Agent Chang successfully infiltrated the top floor and killed the leaders and their bodyguards. Agent Merquise was rather furious that he lost his chance to take care of them himself." Greaves shrugged at that.

I tried to sit up then, and even though pain shimmied itself through my nerves, I managed it. "And Zechs?" I gasped.

Greaves didn't look me in the eyes.

What? What?

The door snapped open, loud enough to make the man in the other bed jerk. I only got the chance to see a quick flash of silver and maybe blue before Greaves was up from his seat and standing in front of me.

"Move."

I leaned past Greaves, hurting the hell out of my chest in the process, and stared in shock at Zechs. What the fuck was this man doing here?

I got up out of the bed and planted my socked feet onto the tile floor. Fucking _cold_.

"What do you want?" I snapped. The man seemed all right, but just as I thought that, I saw how he slightly favored one of his legs. Had he been injured, too? Had the doctor forgotten about him, or had she known I wasn't with the dick?

"You." Zechs moved to go around Greaves, but one hand against his chest stopped him. Zechs glared.

Greaves still stood in front of me as if to protect. It was kind, but annoying. "Greaves." I touched the man's shoulder. It was slight, but I felt Greaves tense before he stepped aside. I stood before Zechs then, and for the first time got an unhindered view of him. He was still in his uniform, or maybe he'd gotten back into it, and the thing was torn to shit in the front, with a line in it that could only belong to some sort of sharp object. Knife? Sword? I never would've thought sword in this day and age, but according to Wufei, he'd engaged _Treize_ with one, so why not?

"I was promised a duel," Zechs said, breaking the silence stretching between us.

I lifted my chin. I'd figured as much. "Oh, really? With who? You can't mean one of us; we're all Preventors, after all."

Zechs gritted his teeth. His fists were splotched, white and pink. Was he seriously going to start a fight in the middle of a hospital? "I was also promised that you were out of the picture, and yet you not only were on our link, but also interrupting our battle with Femorel with your own incompetence."

I lifted my chin. "My fight with Carn didn't start until _your_ fight was over. I very specifically remember that."

Zechs looked ready to throttle me, but instead he unclenched his hands and leaned back on his heels. "What are you to him?"

"We're life partners."

He sneered down at me, and once again I found myself hating my short stature. "Lovers."

"More."

We stared each other down for a time. "Why _you__?_" he asked finally, the question obviously rhetorical.

I couldn't answer; I didn't know. Heero had his reasons for choosing me, just as I had mine for choosing him. All I could say was that we _had_ chosen. "Why do you care?" I asked, turning the question around to him.

"You aren't the right one," he said. As if that was any sort of answer at all.

Greaves seemed ready to say something, but I stopped him with a gesture. "Could you get the others?" I didn't look at him while I spoke. My eyes had to stay on Zechs. Just in case he did something monumentally stupid. "I want to know how Trowa and Heero are doing."

Greaves hissed something I couldn't quite understand, but left. Zechs barely moved for the man to get past, and even that was grudging.

When Greaves was gone, conspicuously leaving the door open, Zechs spoke. "Getting reinforcements?"

I saw what I needed to, though, and I smirked. "You aren't gonna attack me. It's why you shot yourself, right?" I gestured to Zechs' injured leg. "You like to fight, but you fight fair. Now, do you want to tell me what happened? Because I doubt you fought with Heero. He was too busy getting to me."

Zechs' lips twitched, wanting to snarl. He kept his composure through grit. "You set that man up in secret."

So Greaves _had_ been needed. Then why did he avoid my eyes? "I told him to stop any fights between you two, yeah."

It seemed to be just the answer Zechs' patience couldn't take, and he surged forward. I slipped back, but the damn machines and beds kept me cornered, and for fear of waking the old man, I found myself against the wall, Zechs' hands on my shoulders. The movements were bad enough for my chest, but my damn head rebounded _again_ and hell if it didn't make the damn wound there explode.

"You know the others will be here soon," I said, but he didn't let me go.

"I don't understand." He wrapped one arm over my chest and shoved me, his weight close to my neck. I reached up and grabbed his arm in warning, but his eyes weren't on the battle. "A warrior like him. He could be the best-"

"He _is_ the best," I said, cutting him off. It brought his eyes from himself back to me.

"Yes. He is. I saw his skills today. But he made a mistake, and it cost him his health."

A mistake? Heero? I stiffened.

Zechs pushed me a little more, his face finally starting to contort. "He listened for you. I could see him turning his head to his link."

Oh. And I'd been studiously silent, afraid my voice would give away my tension.

"He knew something was wrong," Zechs continued, and his eyes were gazing inward again. "The fool lost himself. For _you_. Because of _you_."

I had to admit, Zechs was suddenly making a much better argument now. "It sounds like neither of us want to be fighters anymore."

"Soldiers are always soldiers," Zechs said. I heard footsteps out in the hall. Zechs didn't let go. "Always," he said again. "You can't escape your past."

"But we can become something new." I squeezed Zechs' wrist and pushed him away. He let go, let me slump against the wall, but he didn't back away. His eyes were narrowed.

"You're a fool," he breathed, and the sudden gust of breath made me freeze again. There was something weird going on now. "Anyone who's seen a battlefield should know better than to believe in dreams."

"Pathetic." I pushed against him, but my strength failed me as my chest clearly said it wasn't happy with this arrangement. "You're the one who gave up. Don't call me a fool just because I'm stronger than you."

The bastard snorted. His hands came up again, this time caging me against the wall instead of touching me. He leaned in close, and I was hyper-aware of my hair loose around me. I was very pissed, now that I thought about it, that this bastard had seen me with my hair down. It made things even creepier. Made it difficult to feel like a warrior. I was reminded of my times on a street as a kid. It made me feel even smaller as he towered over me. "You aren't stronger. You had to send your friend out to help Yuy. You couldn't do it yourself."

I tried to push him away again, and when that failed, tried to hook a foot around his leg. He just stepped into me, until our foreheads were bumping into each other when we breathed. "Get the fuck away from me."

I tried to lift my arms, thinking to poke his eyes or shove his nose into his brain. _Something_. But my chest seized up and I was kind've afraid that doing more would give the lady doctor a reason to keep me longer.

I blame my hesitation.

Zechs leaned in and grabbed my lips with his, all roughness and force, and pressed my head back against the wall. I stood stunned for half an instant, just enough for him to twist his head and push harder, until a few spots sparked from the back of my head. I just said to hell with the pain then, wrenched my arms up and just shoved the heels of my palms under his chin, lifting his mouth off of mine until he chin was level with my eyes. He finally stepped back then, and I hopped onto my hospital bed and over to the other side.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Zechs?"

The words should've been mine; I'd opened my mouth for them and everything. But they'd become from the door, from a much softer tone of voice than I ever could have achieved.

Heero.

Zechs wiped his mouth off with the back of one hand. "It's not my thing, after all," he said, almost seeming to speak to himself. "A weak man just doesn't do it for me."

Heero looked ready to kill.

"Hi, Heero," I said, embarrassed as hell that I had even let that happen. I wiped my mouth, too, and wanted mouthwash like I never had before.

Zechs smirked in Heero's general direction.

It was about all it took.

I understood Zechs' actions about a quarter of a second after it was too late. Heero was already throwing a punch and ducking, putting weight on his bad leg and reaching to grab Zechs.

Shit. Zechs was getting his fucking fight.

I saw the others then, Qat and Wufei and Greaves all by the door, and just as I looked Greaves started to move. I did, too, moving to stop the fight before it was too late. But Heero already had the Perfect Soldier face. If I got in the way, I would be hit, too. He wouldn't be able to stop himself in time.

So I stood in front of Greaves and shook my head and just watched what my mistake had caused.

Zechs whirled around on his uninjured foot and got on Heero's side, pulling his injured leg into a kick. Heero ducked low, planting one hand on the floor and hoisting his feet into a cartwheel kick. I blinked as Zechs pulled back and Heero used his momentum to push off the wall and tackle Zechs to the ground. It was here that I ran forward, calling "ally!" and rushing forward, Qat and Wufei behind me, crowding around Heero and Zechs, and as I grabbed Heero's raised fist, Wufei pulled Zechs up and away. Quatre stood as the buffer in case they escaped our holds, placing himself in danger.

Heero growled and glared at me. His eyes were ice. "Heero, don't."

I heard a bone crunch from behind me.

Heero stood, and I with my hands still covering his fist stood with him. We both looked over. I was afraid for Quatre. With everything Zechs had been willing to do, I wouldn't be surprised if he broke the colony's representative's jaw. I even had Quatre's name on my lips as I turned.

Instead my jaw dropped.

Zechs was the one with his head to the side, the one with one hand cradling his jaw. I felt Heero still, too, and chanced a look over as his fist started falling. His eyes were still on Zechs, but they were melting. I sighed in relief.

"Don't ever touch one of my friends like that again!" It was little Quatre standing there, looking ready to rip Zechs' head off, that finally got Heero back under control, and silently we listened to our friend. "I don't care what your motivations are! I will have you in jail for assault faster than you can blink!"

Zechs moved his jaw, winced. Broken? Well, at least he was in a hospital. Bastard. "You would abuse your power?"

"For my friends? Yes." And Quatre looked proud of the fact. It made me grin. Within my hands, Heero undid his fist in entwined his fingers with mine. "Don't forget it."

Zechs looked a little too red for it to be just from the fight.

The man in the bed beside mine groaned. "Huh? Wha?"

"Sorry, sir," Quatre said, his voice much calmer now, though he didn't turn from Zechs' face. "We woke you. We'll try to be calmer from now on."

"Am I in a hospital?"

"Yes."

The man grunted, and I turned my gaze to him to see him close him eyes. "Weird. You're a pretty couple there," he said, flicking a finger in Heero's and my direction. "You take care of her, young man."

And the man went straight back to sleep.

I flushed, mortified. Goddamn those nurses, undoing my fucking braid!

I turned death glare eyes on Heero when he laughed.

* * *

So the nurses made an exception and let me leave early.

Quatre stayed, wanting to wait for Trowa, and though I argued to stay, too, everyone voted against me, apparently wanting me as far away from Zechs as he could. It had been when the nurse had come into the room that I'd realized Greaves was gone again. The bastard was like Batman.

Wufei got a ride with us back to his place, muttering something under his breath, something that flashed between Zechs' arrogance and his fury over not having his own damn ride. His muttering stopped when we got to his house and saw Sally waiting on his front step for him. He rushed out then, barely remembering to thank us for the lift before he was running up the steps, hands out in a soothing gesture. I couldn't see Sally's face in the darkness, but I recognized the hug easily enough. I was happy for him.

"It's good that he has someone," I said, and Heero hummed his agreement.

I waited to him to pull away from Wufei's place before clearing my throat. "Um, Heero-"

"I know you didn't want it."

I blinked. "Huh? Oh, the fucktard. Of course I didn't! I wasn't going to ask about that."

Heero took his eyes off the road, surprised for a moment, but then he nodded. "Femorel's down. We took care of it. Wufei got the leaders shortly after we took down our last predecessors. We were starting to clean up when Wufei got in touch with you... with Carn." Heero's hands gripped the wheel. "I'd already been heading out to my car. I hadn't heard anything from you, which is strange. Usually you can't shut up during a battle."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "I got the first part of that from Greaves, and you can tell me everything later. But what's this about a promised fight?" Heero's eyes narrowed. I had a feeling he didn't grimace or anything just through sheer will. "And I could swear Greaves was needed-"

"That's right," Heero said, cutting me off and glancing at me again. "You sent him after us."

"After _you_." I shrugged, then winced. That really made my chest hurt. A lot. "I told him to do whatever he had to if you guys needed help and..." I hesitated, which was more than enough for Heero to turn those dark eyes on me again, warning me to finish. I blew out a breath, making my bangs move. At least Heero had braided me up again before we'd headed out. Thank goodness. "And I told him to stop any fights that started between you two. Any means necessary."

"You gave Greaves the okay to kill Zechs?" And of course that was what Heero got stuck on.

"If necessary." I leaned my head back very, very softly. The doctor lady had said I was to stay awake all night, that I wasn't allowed to go to sleep. And if anything bad happened, I was to be in the hospital again. Heero would make sure I followed orders, the nuisance.

Heero was silent for a few minutes, and I concentrated on the hum of the car engine to keep me awake. Things were dark out; it was officially late as hell, and only the extra darkness told me the vague outlines of houses and trees.

Okay, now the silence was getting uncomfortable. "Heero?"

He gusted out a sigh and flipped on his turn signal. We were close to home now. "I suppose it's fine, since he didn't go so far and it at least slowed down Zechs enough for me to get to my car."

And what the hell did that mean?

"Slowed him down?" I prompted when it seemed Heero wasn't going to say more.

He nodded. "Zechs shot himself in the leg before we had even put away our weapons. As soon as Wufei said he'd gotten the leaders. Zechs turned to me then, waited until I'd pulled my gun out. And then Greaves shot at him. I don't know where he was. I hadn't been sure he'd really been there with us, though I'd seen men fall that neither Zechs nor I had aimed at. Greaves only nicked his shoulder, but it was clearly a warning shot. He'd been using a sniper rifle, and Zechs couldn't return fire."

I frowned and closed my eyes. "Then why did Greaves look away from me when I asked him what had happened?"

"That probably has to do with Carn more than Zechs," Heero said, and I could feel his eyes on me. "Are you falling asleep."

"No," I said, but I sounded more petulant than anything else. The fact of the matter was that I was tired. I hadn't rested well the night before, though when I had slept it was deeply, and hell if a battle didn't just wear you out down to your bones.

Heero waited a bit, and I gave up and opened my eyes. "Greaves was probably upset that he'd reported Carn dead when he hadn't been. He'd been called in by Femorel, which means they probably hid him by faking his death."

"Yeah, I found out about Carn through Femorel's audio channels."

Heero was quiet then. "You decided to fight him alone."

Uh-oh. We were entering dangerous waters. "You're damn straight," I said anyway, because I didn't feel at all guilty about my decision. Well, maybe a little bit guilty. "You and Quatre and 'Fei were all there, and I didn't want him near any of you. You said before that you'd have done the same if it'd been me."

Heero sighed. His hands on the wheel weren't white, so I figured I was safe enough. "That's true." His voice was quiet.

"Besides," I said, grinning now, "it's over. It's over, Heero!" I felt the giddiness of it only then, as we turned onto our road and into our driveway. I was fairly bouncing in my seat, not even caring about the pain. "We're done. We just might be able to live an actual _life_ now."

Heero smiled out the windshield and turned off the engine before turning to me and kissing me, hard and long, licking my lips until any lingering taste of Zechs was gone. Only then did he pull back and smile. "Free."

"Yeah." I thunked my forehead against his. "Finally."

"Mm." He kissed me again. "You have to stay up all night, you know. Absolutely no sleeping."

I grinned. "Gee, I wonder where you're headed with this."

He laughed. "Shall we find out?"

* * *

A/N: Uh, sorry for leaving it there, guys. /ducks/ No touchie?

Also, I feel it necessary to note that there is probably only one, maybe, at most, two more chapters of this, and then Sub Rosa will be over. Forever. o_O That feels SO weird to say...


	17. SEX

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing? Sure, it's mine. And also you're stupid.

Warning: The smexy-smex has finally arrived! Hope you all enjoy! Wait... should I say that in a warning? Anyway, if you don't want to read, just wait for the next chapter.

* * *

Sub Rosa

Chapter Seventeen

S.E.X.

* * *

Heero was like a little kid as he locked the front door and grabbed my hand, leading me up the stairs like I'd never climbed them before. I almost laughed at him.

We went past my room, but then Heero stopped and looked back, practically vibrating.

"Yours," I said, and he turned on me like lightning and backed me up against the wall right there in the hallway and kissed me. He was gentle with my head, cupping one hand behind it so that it didn't bump against the wall for the thirtieth time that night. Then one hand slid down my arm, across my bicep and onto my upper torso and he tilted his head before he licked my lips.

I granted him full access.

His tongue was hot, his breath heavy. "Duo." His fingers stilled on my chest, even as his mouth made war with mine. I could feel him ghosting over the places Carn had gotten me, over those little burn marks that told of the taser's touch. He was putting weight on his injured leg, but he didn't seem to care. Should I?

That tongue of his crept down my lips to my chin and around my jaw to my pulse. Thoughts fled. "H-Heero. Bed?"

"Bed," he said, more growling than speaking, and those hands draped around my waist to my back and pulled me forward.

I planted my hands on his chest and cocked an eyebrow up and him. Damn him to hell, an Asian wasn't supposed to be taller than me. Freak. "Bed," I said again.

"Picky." But he took my hand again and took me to his room, pushing the door and letting it hang open. I rolled my eyes.

He had me sit on the bed, a much more difficult feat than I'd initially believed, with the muscles of my chest protesting almost every move. I looked at Heero's leg, happy to see a distinct lack of blood. "How's the wound?" I asked. He watched me as I sat there undoing my hair.

"It's fine. It was a clean shot, and I heal easily."

I mumbled an insult under my breath and tugged a finger through the last few braids, then the next and the next until I was all finally free again. "Gods, it was creepy having my hair down back there."

Heero didn't ask where. Didn't have to ask. "I really don't want to talk about that."

"I really don't want to remember that slimy bastard's lips-"

Heero crushed his lips against mine, one quick kiss, and pulled back. "Just let me know how many more times I have to do that."

"Hmm." I grinned. "Let's see."

Heero ripped off his shirt, his laughter muffled by the fabric. I watched those muscles dart and flex beneath the skin and sucked in a breath. The skin was purple, black, brown, some spots fading slightly to yellow. I winced. "Shit, Heero."

"Don't care," he said, his eyes taking in mine. "Do you?" he asked, and he seemed to hesitate where he stood.

I shook my head. "Danger's gone."

"No more fighting," Heero said.

"Hopefully," I grinned, and plopped back onto the bed. It made me dizzy for half a second, but I recovered and turned my head to him. "But at least nothing for now."

He hummed and came over to the side of the bed, climbing up to saddle my hips. He looked down at me with all that hair falling into his face and smirked. "You look good there."

I flipped him the bird. "Excuse me, who's straddling who?"

He leaned down and planted his forearms on either side of my head before he rubbed his nose against mine. "But you're on bottom."

I leaned my head up, nabbed his lower lip, and nibbled. "Only 'cause I'm injured."

"Oh? That a challenge?" He cupped his hands behind my head again. I flicked a tongue over those lips of his again and tried to identify the taste. He hadn't eaten recently, so it was all him. I moaned and pulled his head down to taste it better.

He took advantage of my distraction to thread those fingers under my shirt and trace over the bandages, then to move over and thrum my nipples. I let his mouth go on a gasp and he chuckled. "Cheater."

"All's fair," he said with a grin. And he went south before I could say something back. Those lips found my neck and I was gone, practically bending into a bridge as he nibbled down my jaw and pulse and down further, licking my shirt and my collarbone beneath. Those fingers played over my nipples again.

"Heero." I let one hand slide from his silk hair down to his neck, shoulder, ignoring the stupid twinge of pain for the greater pleasure of feeling his tricep and the hiss of his breath against my skin when I wound my fingers down the side of his chest.

My touch was almost intangible when I flitted my fingers across his chest. I traced the lines of bruises, followed the trail of purple down to his stomach. "What the hell happened?" I asked, unable to stop myself.

"They were after me more than Zechs," Heero said, and propped himself up. His eyes were dark enough to pass for black. "They didn't understand my strength, but they wanted it." He watched my face, watched as my brow puckered and lips pursed. So they'd been after him? Trying to... what? Kill him? Use him as a guinea pig, just like J had? My gaze roamed over his body, over his bruises, and I pulled my head up to look at his leg. It was like every bullet found its way to him. He was lucky the Kevlar vest held up under the strain.

How close had it been? How close was it even now? We were both given clean enough bills of health, but how far would those take us?

"Duo."

I looked back up at him as he sat up, his hair falling around his eyes in disarrayed clumps. Those eyes of his were clearing. "Are you sure about this? We're hurt from the battles, and you said you didn't want any injuries to get in our way."

What? He was stopping? Was he serious? I reached up for him, and through the twinge of pain I tugged lightly on that crazy hair of his. "That's because I was being stupid and poetic. I take it back."

"Duo," Heero said again. He grabbed my hands, entwined our fingers, and plopped them back on either side of my head. "I'm being serious."

I growled. "So am I." Getting free of Heero was rather difficult, but I squirmed enough to get one hand free – though half of that, I think, was Heero worrying about my own wounds – and wrapped my arm around his neck for another kiss. When I pulled back, I glared at him. "Don't you dare hold back on me, Mama-Yuy."

He laughed. "I wouldn't dream of it."

We undressed then, Heero pulling off his pants and me struggling underneath him with my shirt. Every time I tried pulling the damn thing off, my chest seized. So when Heero rolled off to kick his pants away, I at least managed to get my damn pants off, though kicking them off was the only option, since I couldn't comfortably lean over and get them. Damn Carn bastard and his stupid taser.

Heero might as well have been perfectly healthy, of course; the man wouldn't know how to look sick if he was in the late stages of leprosy. He was undressed before I'd managed more than my pants and one sock. Evil socks hurt to get off, too.

Heero ran one calloused hand through his hair, and then he saw my dilemma. He huffed and rolled his eyes before crawling over to me and snatching my feet as one toe fumbled with the neck of the remaining sock. He laid my bare foot down and held up the one with the sock, peeling it off. Then the bastard tried to tickle me.

I grinned, even as my nerves jumped. "I'm an ex-Gundam pilot, pal. You ain't getting' nuttin' outta me wit' dat maneuver."

"Maneuver, hm?" He dipped his head down and licked the bottom of my foot.

I screeched a little and pulled away, causing a thin stripe of pain to play up my chest and through my neck and arms. My head pounded encouragement. "Yuy – what the fuck–"

"Gotcha." He slid up and ran his hands underneath my shirt. "Can you lift your arms?"

Normally I'd have laid into him for that one, but since I honestly didn't know, I let it slide and just tried. They only went to about a forty-five degree angle before the pain started kicking into overdrive. I cursed.

"It's all right." Heero was slow as he rolled the shirt up, pushing my head forward when it was time to pull off the collar, until the sleeves were the only things still attached and it was a simple matter to roll the shirt off. He threw it aside and looked down at me. Those fingers traced the bandages again. "I almost didn't make it in time."

"He had no intention of killing me." I tugged on Heero's hips until he splayed them against mine. Heero wore nothing underneath his clothes, as per usual, but I had my boxers on still, and the friction was almost unbearable. "It was you he wanted to eat, remember?"

His eyes darkened. "I remember." And he moved his hips up and down and I groaned.

"Jesus, Heero."

"Are you calling Jesus or me?"

"I'm calling the smartass." I couldn't push the man over, so I couldn't be on top, but hell if I was playing the part of the meek bottom. His chest worried me, and his leg, but there was definitely a part of him working just fine, and that was what I went for. He jumped and hissed as my fingers circled around him and just barely clenched.

"Rather quick, cheater." He let his own hands fall down to my stomach, then to my hips. If I gave enough of a damn just then, I would've been impressed with his contortion abilities, him still keeping our hips pressed close even as he wound his fingers under my boxers and into my thighs.

"All's fair," I returned, and he huffed out that tiny laugh of his with those fingers clenching around my skin. He ground us together until my boxers pissed us off enough to stop, and it was Heero who kept me from exerting my poor abused chest muscles and pulled the thing off. My breath caught as he looked, and I'm not girly or anything but something made me freeze against him. I don't know if it was the eyes, the... I mean, shit, I'd already given the man a BJ. And I'd been forced to do the same on the streets! It wasn't like I saw him like I had that man who'd grabbed my hair then. Even when Heero had grabbed my braid, I hadn't gotten mixed up, because Heero tried so hard to not make a sound, like he was struggling against his own damn larynx or something. And it wasn't like I was lying on the bed now thinking about anything bad, and I wasn't thinking anything dumb like, 'was he expecting something bigger?'

But I still froze, and I didn't know why.

"You're beautiful." Heero's voice was breathy, and it helped me realize _why_ I'd frozen. I'd seen Heero, but he hadn't seen me. By the time he'd come, I'd come, and we just kind've laughed and kissed and cleaned up. And we'd seen each other cleaning up, but it'd been post-sex, not pre-sex. I hadn't known that would make me feel different.

I didn't know I would _blush_.

Then Heero was leaning down and licking down my stomach, and all I could do was hold on to the sheets and curse. Somehow it made Heero laugh again.

There was the painful sort of fire in my groin by the time that tongue slid further south, and I hissed as he circled around my thighs and deliberately left my dick dry. "Heero, for the love of – aah...!"

He'd lightly bit my sac. "Don't you calling for your deities again," Heero hissed, his breath whooshing over my dick so that it jumped as I did. "Just call for me."

"Cheesy," I grumbled, but I couldn't help calling his name as he licked up my length and cupped me. His free hand went up, up until it glossed over my bandages and played across my nipple again. I think I whimpered. Those hands played over me and that tongue was playing a beat against my tip and I cried out.

Then Heero kissed my tip and pulled himself up. I reached from the sheet to grab, but he only chuckled. "We aren't finishing like that again."

I growled. "Picky." I managed to run my fingers up his own dick and watched him close his eyes and shudder. He was much more engorged than I'd have thought; Heero looked about as ready as me to come. I hadn't been able to pleasure him, so how...?

"Duo, I want to be in you." And he touched my hand and put it back on the bed. "I want to feel you tight around me."

I grimaced. "I'll let you this one time, but once I'm better, your position's being challenged."

"I'll win."

The bastard was so sure of himself I wanted to hit him. "I got some moves, buddy, and don't think I won't play to win." I glared at him when he chuckled, kept on glaring at him while he rolled over and opened up the drawer of his nightstand. "You can't be serious."

"A soldier is always prepared."

"Freak." I took a deep breath. I'd never done this part before. Never really wanted to. But something _was_ asking for more, asking for Heero to be _mine_. BJ's just didn't do that. I owned nothing but the taste and the memory. I wanted to own _him_, in some weird primal way – like I wanted to brand him, to brand myself. I wanted everyone to know that Heero Yuy, the beautiful, crazy bastard that he was, was with _me_. That he'd chosen _me_.

So I spread my legs and glared sullenly at him when he rolled back over with the lube. Heero saw and smiled. "I love you."

"Corny." But I reached for him anyway – and snatched the lube from him when he wasn't paying attention. "I guess I should say I love you, too, right?"

"It would be preferable to silence," he said, and tried to take the little bottle back. I grinned and hugged it to myself.

"You are my light," I said, and watched his eyes widen a little. It was with triumph that I popped open the lid and squeezed out some lube. "It's incredible, I suppose." I shrugged and rubbed my hands together. "You've shown me myself, yet even before I knew who I was, I knew I loved you."

Heero's breath crashed out, then sucked right back in when I ran a wet finger up the bottom of his dick. "Duo." He closed his eyes again as I wrapped my hands around him and smoothed the lubricant over him. "Shit."

Much better. I grinned. "Yes?"

Blind, Heero fumbled for the abandoned bottle of lube and popped it open again, squeezing out his own dollop. His fingers rubbed around each other, his movements slow, deliberate. I watched as they started to glisten. And while I rubbed him ready, he slid one hand between us and touched my hole. I froze again for a moment before letting out a little breath and relaxing. That thumb of his rubbed again, then slipped just a bit inside. We both hissed at the same time then.

He switched to his first finger, wet and cool with whatever lubrication he'd gotten – hell if I'd checked the damn label – and swirled around until I whimpered and bucked. He licked my nipple as he slipped that finger in, and I arched my back and gasped. The feeling was... weird. Almost-painful, but Heero took his time and it was more uncomfortable than awful. His finger wiggled like a worm. The thought almost made me laugh.

Heero waited until I squirmed, then slid it slightly out, then in again. I gasped again at the feel. Holy shit.

Another joined the first, Heero working slowly, even though the burning in me was getting worse and I thought I could feel him twitching slightly, hissing every time I jerked, every time my breath hitched. I let go of Heero, afraid I would lose control and grip too hard, but my hand trailed up, gripping his shoulder, while my other hand twisted in the sheets enough to pull off one of the corners. My legs bent of their own accord. My toes curled. And Heero started scissoring those fingers of his.

"Shit!"

Heero stopped for only a moment before realizing I wasn't scared or hurt. He chuckled. "You're so eloquent, Duo."

I just grimaced and blew him a half-hearted raspberry, unable to speak any better than that at the moment. It didn't hurt much at all, especially now, and something in me was getting rather insistent, almost angry. The fire in me _hurt_. It wanted something more. It wanted Heero. _I_ wanted Heero.

I tried to communicate this, clenched my fingers around his shoulder and arched my back again, but all I could do was curse again. I looked down as Heero lifted his head, and his eyes were definitely insanely dark. My body seemed to beg.

And he smiled. "All right."

My heart melted. Beautiful bastard.

He positioned us, watching as I tested what I could do with my injury, me watching him situate himself so his weight was off his bad leg, and then my legs were practically up to my ears and I was flushed, half horrified by the position but feeling Heero's tip against me, so I couldn't pull back. Those fingers came back, double-checking, then left and I watched his eyes again. "Ready?"

"If you make me wait, I will kill you."

I heard that breathy chuckle, felt it enough to shiver. "Stealing my lines again?"

"Your old lines, maybe, but not those cheesy... nnn..." I gave up on speech then and leaned my head back as he slid just the tiniest bit in. It hurt a little more, even with all that careful preparation, and yet it was totally different in another way. Fingers weren't the same at all. I reached up and wrapped my arms around his head, digging into his hair. Jesus. It hurt, but if felt good. Like eating food for the first time in days. Like drinking the rain with a throat hot from fever. Hell. Like nothing I'd ever experienced before.

It took even longer after that, as Heero waited until I tugged and squirmed under him before continuing, one of his hands squeezing between us to play some rhythm over my dick to help me along. I made more interesting sounds in those minutes than I ever had in my life. A part of me was horrified – a rat should be quiet at all times. But _shit_, a rat wasn't in the habit of feeling this, and Heero would always give me a little more whenever I did, like some stupid positive reinforcement or something.

Then I felt him slide that last bit in and I hardly took a moment before I started writhing under him, already wanting to do more. It was Heero who made a small sound then, one of the first he'd made, and I stilled, afraid I'd hurt him. My eyes were wide as they scanned his face, seeing the lines on his brow and the jawline that said he was clenching his teeth. His eyes were almost shut. "Heero?"

"Fine. Just..." And I felt his hips jerk against me. "Shit," he breathed. "_Shit_."

I wanted to tease him, wanted to laugh in his face, but there was something in his face that stopped me. He looked like he'd just entered Heaven.

I reached up with one hand – the clean one – and touched his cheek. Those slits of eyes opened. That head leaned into my palm. He kissed it. "You okay?"

"I'm absolutely dying," I told him, and watched that gaze sprint over to my face. I was grinning. "You gotta fuckin' _move_, Heero."

He gasped out a laugh and groaned and pushed, and I was surprised to feel that tiniest bit more fill me and then I was grinding up and to hell with my damn chest. The pain hardly registered, anyway.

But Heero pushed me back down and rolled his hips in a way I'd never known one could, and something inside me lit like a damn flare and I gasped and yelped all at once. Heero's eyes narrowed, and I watched that mind work just before he moved again, hitting that spot a second time. My entire body just bowed, and that noise came out of my mouth again. He adjusted himself for a moment, pulling a little more weight off his bad leg, and then he was pulling back, just enough for me to feel the absence inside of me, and then he came back, slow again, as if pacing himself. I keened. Like a girl. And I could not care less.

He did it again, and this time that flare was lit again and I writhed like a snake, making noises I couldn't even label. The fire was an inferno. A volcano. I tugged on Heero's arms, unable to do more, to say it, but he seemed to understand, or maybe he was somehow getting there, too, because his hand dipped low, between us, and those fingers drummed around me and pumped and my back was up and he hit that magic spot again and on a scream I came, the eruption blinding my eyes almost white. I saw Heero bite his lip, heard him grunt, and those eyes of his clenched closed as his head fell back and I felt something wet and alien spurt inside of me.

We slumped to the bed in an absolute mess. I felt sweat on my brow, on my chest and arms and felt my own semen on us. Heero managed to move to my side, keeping his bad leg off the bed, and wrapped his arms around me, burying his face in my shoulder. We were both gasping for breath. I felt weird after he left me. His semen was still there, all awkward and weird in me, and I felt it slipping out a little, and an uncomfortable feeling was starting to pulse there. Apparently I hadn't felt pain at the time, but I was going to be sore in a few hours. My chest seemed ready to remind me of its assaults, as well, and my head was echoing my heartbeat.

But I didn't care. I was riding the cloud of completion and couldn't be bothered with anything minor like discomfort. I turned my head to Heero and smiled. He looked to be feeling about the same as me. "I don't wanna get up," I told him, and got his hand across my bangs, pushing them out of my face. His were much messier than mine could dream to be; his hair had already been wild enough to be after-sex hair, but now it was absolutely insane. Medusa would be proud. I grinned at the thought and pushed the worst of it from his forehead. "That was insanely good. Like 'holy fuck' good."

Heero laughed. "Couldn't you just say it was incredible?"

"Cheesy," I said, half-glaring.

He just shook his head and sighed, looking up to the ceiling. "I can't tell you how many times I looked up to this sight, awake despite myself and wanting you here to finish what my head started."

I snorted. "Perv." He glared but stopped when he saw my smirk. He rolled his eyes and snuggled again. It was a nice feeling, one I hadn't felt since I'd been on the street with the other rats, all of us curling together for warmth. I pulled up one hand as far as I could and wrapped it over his arm. "I love you."

He hummed and rubbed his nose against my hair. "I love you, too."

We stayed there for a while, just lying there, until it started getting a little cold. I was about to give up and roll off the bed to get clean when Heero pushed himself up to his hands and knees and crawled over me. His lips were obviously trying to smile, but he was tamping the urge down. I tilted my head at him – and he dipped down and licked my ear. I laughed – shit. That was a ticklish place I wasn't used to ignoring.

Then he leaned down and licked from my jaw to my collarbone. I shivered and gasped. "H-Heero. You can't be serious."

His lips had moved to my nipple. He seemed to like the spot. I didn't know why until he flicked that tongue over it and I heard a weird half-breath slip from my mouth. Shit. Was he looking for that noise specifically? "Why not? How old are we? Nineteen? Twenty?" He looked up at me through those ridiculous bangs. "I'm horny."

I let out a choked laugh and gave up.

* * *

A/N: Wow. This ENTIRE thing was a sex scene. o_O Well, this, I believe, is the prelude to the end. One more chapter, I think, and it'll all be over. I hope you've enjoyed this insanely long story. /bows/


	18. Worthy to Stay

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing? Sure, it's mine. And also you're stupid.

* * *

Sub Rosa

Chapter Eighteen

Worthy To Stay

* * *

We slept in.

Well, we may have slept in, but we'd gone to sleep late, so...

Either way, we were woken up by the damn doorbell, and though Heero just rolled over and got up, I pulled the pillow over my head and huffed, trying to ignore it. My ass hurt.

"Duo. You know you should get up." Heero sounded rather chipper this morning, the bastard. I didn't even deign to glare at the man.

The doorbell rang again, and Heero went to the window before shouting, "in a minute!" He threw on his jeans and shirt and headed for the door.

"Heero, are you serious? I mean, I know we cleaned ourselves up, but-"

But Heero just grinned at me and cocked his jaw. "They woke me up."

I blinked as the man left the room.

Oh, shit.

I scrambled up from the bed as Heero went down the stairs. I was stripped and in the shower before he opened the door. The water was hot, and my ass was protesting my quick movements enough that I winced, and hell if I'd remembered the damn bandages before it was too late and they were soaked, but at least I wasn't being as obviously negligent as Heero. That guy...!

* * *

I came down about ten minutes later to the sound of something frying on the stove. My hair was wet and pulled in its braid, still dripping slightly – long hair did that – and Heero was at the stove, making omelets. Quatre turned to me with eyes that made my back straighten.

Trowa snickered.

"Come on, Duo, it's not that bad."

Wufei turned his gaze from Heero to me and smirked, leaning on one elbow. He looked like a box of popcorn should be sitting in his lap.

I ignored him and sauntered into the room, popping myself on the counter and swinging my legs back and forth. "So before you go into your conspiracy, can you tell me what happened yesterday?"

Quatre's brows furrowed. "Heero didn't tell you?"

"He just told me we won and that he was attacked more than Zechs. And that Trowa was hurt." I turned my gaze to Trowa. "I thought you were still in the hospital?"

"Got out this morning," he said, but he was sitting in a chair, different than usual, and he was leaning back. "I got hit in the arm, then again five inches beneath the right ribs. The Kevlar caught most of it, but it was close enough to the intestines to merit some worry." The man didn't shift where he sat, but he looked a little uncomfortable. "As long as I take it easy, I should be fine."

Should be?

But Quatre was already leaning over and saying something in Trowa's ear, and the man turned and smiled down on the blond. "I know," he said, just barely loud enough for me to hear. Wufei was blushing and looking at Heero's wall.

"I was in hiding through the most of it," Wufei said then, getting back on-topic, "since I'm not quite as good at stealth as you, Maxwell."

"Trowa and I fought one of those... one of our predecessors," Quatre said, even as I watched him lace his fingers with Trowa. "He was fast, and ugly. I think the doctor he was with had done something to his physical features. Or something." And Quatre gave me an account of the battle, of Quatre and Trowa dancing around the guy, managing a few shallow shots before he'd gotten in front of Quatre. Trowa had moved then, stopping the kill shot, and once Trowa had gone down, Quatre had gone ape-shit and managed to take the guy out. I applauded him as Heero put down omelets for Qat and Tro, and Heero started telling his story in more detail as he did Wufei's. I asked if he wanted me to take care of the rest, and he told me to shut up. Just as well. Damn, my ass hurt.

"Anyway," Heero said, spreading the cheese over the eggs and adding the sausage a bit later, "Zechs and I got through the throng of guards and were stopped by the other predecessor. It was good to plan for both, at least." Heero tested the eggs, then let them rest in the pan for a bit. "Zechs was almost ignored. The man was obsessed with me. He didn't see anything else."

Heero flipped the egg onto its side. "It helped sometimes; when guards came over, Zechs could take care of them while I fought the man. We fought, both of us not really getting a good shot in until he got my leg and I his arm. I don't know how long it was after that, but he got me once in the chest, close enough to get me on the floor." My eyes widened. "He hit right around my collarbone, after all." My mouth fell open. "He came up and shot me five more times, and when he aimed for my face, I shot him. Zechs finished him off then, and shortly after shot himself."

He sprinkled a little more cheese on the top of the omelet – something I'd never thought of doing before I'd seen him do it – and handed it to Wufei. He'd already cracked the next three eggs before I'd gotten my mouth to work.

"We did it after all that?"

The words probably weren't the best; Wufei started making choking noises. He thumped his chest as I turned and grabbed tea Heero must've given him at some point. He drank it all down and gasped. Quatre laughed through the whole thing.

"Yes, we did." Heero, I saw when I turned back to him, was grinning that chipper, triumphant grin I'd heard in his voice when we'd woken up. The man seemed to almost be vibrating.

"Jesus Christ, would the two of you _please_ shut _up_?" Wufei sputtered. He stood from the table and stalked over to the fridge. While Wufei refilled his drink, Quatre got up and came to me, his arms out to hug. I leaned awkwardly down to accept. "I'm so happy for the two of you! I'd thought maybe I'd missed it, since... but I'm so happy you came together."

That one was spoken innocently, but I had a street rat mind, and I started thinking about the double meaning. "Uh, thanks, Qat."

"It's about time," Trowa chimed in, and I looked over Qat's shoulder to see a smirk on the man's face. Apparently he'd gotten his a long time ago. I narrowed my eyes and squeezed Quatre that little bit tighter. The grin slipped to an acceptable degree. I stuck my tongue out.

"Duo, stop antagonizing the guests." Heero reached for a plate as Quatre let me go, giggling. I snatched it for him and leaned over with it. His eyes judged how safely I was seated before he dropped the omelet on my plate. I grinned at him and licked my lips at the plate. And got to see his eyes darken.

"Yay! Thanks, Heero." And I grabbed a fork and dug in where I was. "Ah! Hot!" I put the plate down and ran to the fridge, grabbing my apple juice. Heero had a glass on the counter by the time I had it in hand. He was grinning victoriously at the pan again. Smartass.

He put in one last omelet and Quatre went to Trowa, sitting down to eat his food, leaning over every once in a while, most likely to ask mother-hen questions. Wufei looked distinctly uncomfortable.

"So," I asked, once more on the counter, "how're things between you and Sally, 'Fei?"

The man went red.

"Maxwell!" He glared coal daggers at me. "That is most certainly none of your business."

"Aw, come on. That relationship of yours is the only chance we have of seeing kids." I said it without thinking, but things got a little quiet. I stopped eating with the fork halfway to my mouth and looked at the table. At Heero. Everyone was really quiet. "Um, what?"

"Actually," Quatre said quietly, "that's one of the things I want to talk about. I... Trowa and I are considering adoption." The blond's eyes were on his omelet.

My jaw dropped. "Qat! Really? That's... that's so fucking awesome!"

It surprised a laugh from everyone, and I saw Quatre's shoulders relax. "Good," the blond said. "Because if I can get it okayed, I want you and Heero and Wufei to all be godparents."

I snorted. "Us? Really? Are you crazy?"

But Heero paused in his omelet-making and turned to Quatre. "Absolutely," he said, voice dead-serious. "I would want nothing more."

"Nor would I," Wufei said. Quatre nodded, then turned to me. A full-blown blast of baby blue was just unfair.

"Look, I would be honored. But I'm a rat, Quatre. I don't know shit about normal kids." I had the plate on my lap – burning a hole through my jeans, by the way – and my hands in the air. I'd look like I was surrendering if I didn't still have the fork in my hand.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Heero frowning at me.

But Quatre seemed to be happy then, for some reason. "So you'll do it."

"Qat–"

But Quatre was already nodding. "Wonderful. Thank you, Duo."

I opened my mouth to protest, but Heero spoke then, still looking at the omelet as he put it on a plate. "Duo. Do you really think any of us know what it's like to be 'normal'?"

My mouth snapped shut. Oh. Of course. Trowa even went through life on the streets, in a way, living with a mercenary unit that couldn't been killed at any time. Quatre wanted us all to have this child, to raise him or her and create with our own hands the happiness of the next generation.

Oh. Our blond friend really was the smartest of us all. "I'd love to," I said, voice quiet, and Quatre beamed. Trowa raised his left hand and put it on Quatre's leg. They shared a smile that made Wufei look at the wall again.

"So that aside," I said, still unable to think straight, "_is_ everything going well between you and Sally?"

Wufei gave a long-suffering sigh. "Yes, Maxwell, thank you."

I nodded and returned to eating. We all ate then, the silence companionable, until Quatre started fidgeting in his seat and Trowa sighed. "Just do it," Trowa said finally and I looked up in time to see Quatre blush.

"Uh-oh," I said, as all eyes turned to me. "What?" I turned to Heero, but he was only smiling some mystery smile at me. Shit. "What?" I turned again to Quatre.

"Um, Duo. Do you remember when we came to you before, with a message from Une?"

I thought back. "Honestly? No. Not really."

Quatre rolled his eyes and bounced in his seat. He actually turned around to the side of the seat and put his hands on the back. He looked like a puppy begging on its hind legs. "We came and told you about Une wanting to see you because of the files about Caribol."

I shrugged. "Okay?"

He huffed. "And I asked you if you would let me publish your poetry?"

I paled. Everyone was watching me, and I turned to Heero again. He looked like he was trying to fight his smile, but it really wasn't working. I glared at him, but that just made his control slip enough that he full-out grinned. My glare turned up a notch. "Hey," Heero said smoothly, "I don't have a thing to do with this."

"Then how do you know?" Heero just shrugged and ate another bite of food.

"I told him as soon as we came in," Quatre admitted, and I turned my glare on him... for about three seconds. Shit, it was impossible to glare at Quatre. Cheater knew it, too. "I wanted to know what he thought of it..."

"Of course the bastard loved it," I hissed, glaring at the man again out of the corner of my eye. Heero kept grinning unrepentantly.

"Duo, please?" The bastard was pulling out all the stops. He was even _pouting_. If I could've leaned back, I would've. "I swear I won't be asking much from you. I could even change your name if you want. I just really want others to see those words of yours. Please?"

What the hell could I say to that? "Qat, I couldn't let you do all the work–"

"I don't mind," the blond said quickly, stopping that argument cold. "I want to. It would be my little project. Please, Duo?"

The bastard fucking had me, and he knew it. I snarled anyway. "I don't want people reading that trash."

"Duo."

I turned to Heero, the first person to interrupt the argument between Quatre and me. Wufei was back to looking at us, that movie-goer look in his face again. Heero was looking up through his bangs, his smile gone. "Don't call them trash."

I blinked.

Most probably, I should've been pissed. He was telling me what to do, and he'd definitely gotten top position, so I should've been making sure he didn't let the position get to his head or anything. But mostly I was just... warmed. Embarrassed as hell and warmed. Because Heero thought those stupid things were percious.

I grumbled and looked down at my plate. At this rate, my food was going to get cold. I dug out another bite and enjoyed the taste. I had no idea how Heero did it, but his omelets were great. Maybe it was the extra cheese, or whatever he put into the eggs when he first scrambled them in the pan, but in any case, they were always delicious. I looked up at Quatre again and sighed. "I'm surrounded, aren't I?"

Quatre clapped his hands together again and hopped once more from his seat to grab me in a hug, hardly remembering to avoid my plate at the last second. I swallowed and hugged the boy as best I could. That second hug had hurt my chest. Ouch.

When Qat pulled back, there was an evil little grin on his face. I'd known it was coming, but the sign of his manipulative victory still burned. I glared at him now without a problem. "Bastard."

"Thank you, Duo," was all he said, and he walked calmly back to Trowa.

Gods, that guy was a weapon in and of himself.

And so Wufei had a few things to laugh about as we all finished eating.

* * *

I cleaned up the dishes, then stacked them all in their cupboards. Heero had gone into his bedroom, saying he wanted to change the linens – probably a good idea – and somehow managed to give me a smile that made me blush again.

Okay. So maybe the only thing that changed in our relationship was a new level of secret glances. I had to make sure I wasn't the only one blushing all the time, or else I was going to end up being the butt of Wufei's jokes twenty-four-seven.

The good news was that I had some time to myself to think about what Quatre had managed to worm out of me: the promise to send him my poems for publication. I was hoping he would send them in without using his name, which would definitely get them sent back to him with a note saying not to waste the publisher's time. It would serve him right, taking my half-ass poems and trying to put them in print.

But what if they did make it? What if... if people read such private things? I mean, most of those were for Heero. Written either about Heero or to Heero or... well, they were always influenced by Heero. Always Heero. Could Heero really be okay with that? Could _I_ be okay with that?

Well, Heero certainly hadn't _seemed_ concerned about it. He'd gotten defensive over the stupid things. And no matter how much of a warm fuzzy that was, it was still weird. It wasn't like I'd gone to formal schooling for longer than a freaking year. What did I know about language? I was lucky I knew basic grammar.

Still. I threw the towel I used to dry the dishes in the hamper to be washed and stretched. Really, I shouldn't worry about it. It would be rejected, it would be forgotten, and I wouldn't have to deal with Quatre looking at me all pity-party because it wouldn't be my damn fault. Out of my hands.

I really hoped the poems were rejected.

I heard Heero coming down the steps and frowned. Why were his steps so out of character? A little softer, a bit slower. What was he doing _now_?

I went to meet Heero on the landing, deciding it would be better to get whatever torture was coming out of the way. Heero's hand was behind his back, and he was grinning again. Like a loon. I cocked my head and raised an eyebrow. "Dare I ask?"

Heero shook his head. "I wouldn't answer, anyway." He nodded to the living room. "Couch."

I sighed and took a seat as told. The man looked like a little kid again, and it made my heart race. So stupid to get mushy over that face just because it was the Perfect Soldier's. Just because I'd ever wondered if the man _could_ ever look so happy. So seeing it made everything in me melt. It was cheesy, and if he knew it, I'd be toast. "All right, what is it?"

Heero came and sat down beside me, still making sure I couldn't see what he was hiding in his hands. "I want you to know, first of all, that I love you."

Um, and where was this going? "I love you, too," I said, but the admission may have been lost behind the suspicion lacing my words. I narrowed my eyes.

"And second, that I won't accept 'no' for an answer."

And again, my mind dropped to the gutter. "Exactly where are you going with this?"

That grin, if possible, widened even more, and then he pulled his hands around. Something skinny and rectangular was wrapped in tissue paper, plain silver and slightly shiny. My eyes widened. "Did... did I forget something? I thought... I didn't think we were together a full year just yet–"

Heero stopped my stammering with a chuckle. "No. This is something I've been looking for for you. That's all."

I reached out for it, my hand shaking slightly. He'd searched for something for me? I looked at that gift like it was an alien. A potentially rabid alien. How many gifts had I received in my life? None on the streets, none but a home from the church – as if a church would have anyone on L2 give a shit to donate – and none while I was a Gundam pilot. I'd received peace, but that was through my own work. I received friends, but that was luck. I received love, but you couldn't touch that so much as see it.

I was receiving a very tangible gift.

I blinked back the waterworks and touched the thing. It was hard to the touch. Not a book or anything, then. It looked almost like a Ray case – a movie recording device, one that matched almost any computer system made. Heero let go then, and it was mine. In my hands and everything. I didn't know what to do with it. I just stared like a fool.

"Duo?"

I looked up at Heero with eyes wide and mouth agape. He searched my face before smiling gently. "Open it."

I looked back down. Open it? Ruin the wrapping? It was simply done; Heero had probably never wrapped a gift before. I wondered if he'd ever gotten a gift, or even seen a gift, before. "Heero, I'm sorry."

Heero was silent for a beat. "I told you I won't accept no–"

"That's not it. I don't... have a gift for you."

I looked up, but he was smiling. "You gave me one. Remember?" Heero leaned forward and kissed my forehead. "You gave me your poems. And your body." I blushed again at that one, and the bastard had the audacity to chuckle. "And your love."

I grunted at that one. "But you can't touch that one."

"No," he agreed. "But it touches you."

I blinked at his chest. "That... that's true." So I leaned over and kissed him on the lips. "That's a thank you, then," I said, and gave him a little grin. My eyes were dry again. "Just in case I hate it."

He snorted. "Just open the damn thing."

That was better. I still felt strange when Heero pulled out those little nuggets of his. It didn't mesh with his former 'omae-o-korosu' persona. (1) Like, at all. It still took me by surprise.

So I found the places Heero had taped the thing and gently pried it off. Heero snorted out a laugh. I glared at him before I looked back down and unwrapped it.

I gasped.

There in my hands was a Ray copy of _Lady and the Tramp_. I felt my voice leave me. Felt my hands start to shake. It was the movie I remembered, the movie from my days in the Maxwell church. The one children's movie I'd ever watched. Ever known. "I... how...?"

"You mentioned it when we first met again, on-board your ship." I ran my fingers over the glossy surface. "You said you'd never been able to find it, and you looked like you longed for it." Heero chuckled, and it made me look up. His eyes were warm, like the ocean, like the sky turning night, as he looked at me. "It took me forever to find it, but I did. It just happened to be on the colony we docked at while dealing with Troit, and I went and grabbed it while we were there. I've been waiting for the right moment since." Heero leaned forward, until our foreheads were touching. "This seemed like it."

I tried to speak again, but my voice was clogged. I struggled against it. Boys didn't cry. "I..." My fingers wrapped around the little movie, and I clutched it to my chest. "I love it," I whispered.

"I'm glad."

We just sat there for a while, me struggling to keep myself together, Heero just sitting with me, supporting me. Finally I gave up and slid one of my arms around his neck, the other still holding my gift. "I love it," I said again, even though it'd been forever since I'd said it before. "I love _you_."

Heero wrapped his arms around me, and I don't know who started it, but we were kissing, and something in Heero's touch made my control break and the tears were there before I could rein them in again. One even slipped down my cheek. Heero pulled back and watched me. "I love you, too."

"You're making me cry, asshole," I told him, and buried my face in his chest.

He laughed. "I'm sorry?"

"Good," I said, but it sounded muffled and petulant and decided it might be best to shut up.

And that's what we looked like for quite a few minutes.

And that's how we would look for the rest of our lives.

* * *

A/N: (1) "Omae o korosu" means "I'll kill you."

Oh, did I neglect to explain Zechs' douchiness? Yes, well, it didn't want to fit in the chapter. Let's just say that Zechs has no idea who the hell he is – he's still a soldier, but soldiers aren't needed anymore. And of course, he's pissed about Heero seeming to adapt so well. So he's of course wanting what Heero has, which eventually leads to wanting his friends, his life – and maybe Duo a little, as well.

I also have another note! Writing this, I realized that there could definitely be another Saga. /glares murder at the story arc/ However, for now, this sucker is DONE. I wanna write something else for a change! So though I think another Saga could easily come about, it will by God have to damn well wait. /nods/

So I hope you've all enjoyed Sub Rosa, and I thank you all for making it all the way through. (Talk about a marathon read!) You all are what got this story finished. There were several times I wanted to give up and say to hell with it, but your kind reviews helped me make it through every single time. For anyone who cares, yes, I will have another story up soon, one called "By Your Side." It's rather different from all this, of course, but I've wanted to write a new GW story for a while and haven't because of this sucker.

Again, I thank you all for all of your support and time, and I hope this has helped give, if not a completely satisfying ending, one that's good enough. I love you all. /bows for the final time./


End file.
